


Priestly's Piece of Paradise

by grrriliketigers



Series: What Happens in Vegas [2]
Category: Mamma Mia! (2008), The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-04-04
Updated: 2013-04-04
Packaged: 2017-12-07 10:22:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 46,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/747421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grrriliketigers/pseuds/grrriliketigers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Caroline, Cassidy, Andy, Emily and Nigel come to see how Miranda is settling into her new life of leisure. Is retirement everything Miranda dreamed it would be or is it driving her slowly over the edge into insanity?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Day One  
Cassidy and Caroline walked down the beach as their mother was approaching, they smiled. She scowled.

"Girls," Miranda motioned to the alcoholic beverages they both held in their hands, "you're too young for this."

"No age limit on alcohol consumption in Greece." Caroline said as she sipped, "come on, mom, it's Spring Break."

"Yeah, we turned down plans to go to Cancun to spend our vacation with our mother who we love and adore." Cassidy smiled charmingly.

"My friends are going to Prague." Caroline corrected.

"Alright, I gave up a really cool trip and Caroline made a really good decision." Cassidy grinned.

"Oh, I don't really care about the alcohol, I'm just really glad you're here." Miranda hugged them and kissed their temples, "I want you to tell me all about school and how much you hate it and miss me."

"College is great, mom." Cassidy smiled, "my lacrosse team is 6 and 0."

"You mentioned in your e-mail, I'm so proud of you. How are your grades?"

"Well," Cassidy chewed her lip, "not quite as good... but in my defense I took the hard classes first to get them out of the way. Next year will be infinitely easier."

"Oh Cass, I'm not going to lecture you just remind you that you're a very smart girl and I know you can do better but I trust you."

Cassidy nodded, kicking the sand.

"My grades are great." Caroline interjected, "and I'm writing for the school's literary publication."

"I'm very proud of you, darling." Miranda smiled, "I'm very proud of both of my girls and I hope that neither of you ever forget that."

"Well, you know, as long as we're doing the sappy thing, we're proud of you too. You just packed up and moved to Greece to live with the woman you love. That's really awesome, mom."

"Will you play Scrabble with us?"

Miranda laughed, "ah ha, I have found your sneaky ulterior motive. No, I'm never playing Scrabble again. Andrea's coming, you can probably trick her into playing with you though."

"Oh Andy's coming?" Caroline smiled hugely.

"We haven't seen her since we left for school! When's she getting here?" Cassidy inquired.

"Donna's going down to the dock to pick them up. It was apparently a surprise but Nigel accidentally gave it away it so I'm pretending I don't know." Miranda took one of the girls drinks and sipped it, "what are you drinking? This is pretty good."

"Get your own." Cassidy laughed, snatching it back.

Miranda looked at her watch, "I think the ferry should be coming in any minute, let's get back up to the landing to be surprised."

Miranda had learned her way around the grounds quickly enough. She led the girls through a winding path behind the hotel. "Mom, are you sure we're going the right way?"

"Have a little faith, babies, I live here, don't I?" The path suddenly opened up on the courtyard, "oh ye of little faith."

"I'll never doubt you again." Caroline grinned.

Donna got to the top of the stairs, she grinned, "so I found these people on the dock, they say they know you."

Nigel, Emily and Andy got to the top of the steps, "hey, look at what the cat dragged in." Miranda smiled and looked at Donna, "you minx, you set this all up, didn't you?"

"Oh shut up," Donna laughed, "I know you knew."

"Hello Miranda," Nigel smiled and stepped forward and hugged Miranda, "the girls just moved in together and they don't want to talk about it." He whispered.

Miranda nodded knowingly and kissed his cheek hello.

Next she hugged Andy and then Emily. Nigel and Andy had easily adjusted to happy, gentler Miranda but it still made Emily weary.

When Miranda let them go the girls squealed their excited hellos and ran to hug Andy. They had both grown very fond of Andy during their last three years of high school. Andy visited often and eventually won the twins over by playing Scrabble with them. Caroline even decided to attend Northwestern and got Andy to write her a recommendation. Cassidy decided upon Cambridge, the school which had expelled Miranda, for reasons she'd never confessed to her daughters.

Sophie came down from the second floor and smiled, "I was wondering what all the commotion was. I see the gang's all here."

"Sophie, would you mind showing them their rooms?" Donna asked.

"Not a problem at all, mum." She smiled at the trio, "please follow me, we have the best rooms set up for you, Miranda's been doing a bit of redecorating, but I imagine you'll be able to pick out what exactly's been influenced by her." She winked at Miranda with a smile before disappearing up the stairs with her guests.

Miranda wrapped her arms around Donna's waist. "Thanks for arranging everything."

"I'm just sorry it wasn't a surprise." Donna pushed Miranda's hair behind her ear.

"It's still one of the sweetest things that anyone's ever done for me."

"Well, you know," Donna smiled, "I like your friends and I wanted to bring a little bit of New York here for you, I know you're a little bored."

"I'm not bored." Miranda protested.

"Sweetheart, you're bored. You remodeled the goat house."

"Well... maybe I do feel a little bit unneeded, but I'm not unhappy here, just the opposite, I am so happy to be here with you, I feel like I've really found my home."

Donna nodded, "I believe that wholeheartedly, but that doesn't preclude boredom. In New York you worked well into the night and woke up at the crack of dawn, you had meetings and run throughs and lunch dates and dinner dates and charity balls and functions. I get that. Here we have breakfast, lunch and dinner at the same times every day and, well, life is pretty routine."

"It's not as bad as you're making it sound." Miranda smiled, "you make me sound like the terrier who chews up the furniture because no one left me any toys to play with."

"Yes," Donna grinned, "yes, that's the perfect analogy. That is exactly what you're like."

Miranda looked at her watch, "isn't it time for you to walk behind the maid and make sure all the beds are made properly?"

"Let's throw caution to the wind." Donna kissed her, "let's just say, today, that Myka will make the beds correctly."

"This is a big step for you, Donna." Miranda sucked her bottom lip into her mouth and kneaded her hips gently.

**

Emily grunted as she hoisted her valise up onto the bed. "Don't bother to help or anything." She snapped.

Andy rolled her eyes, "it's your own damn suitcase! I told you to pack lighter."

"Oh you did no such thing!" Emily set her hands on her hips and sneered, "you always do that. You wait until I've done something you think is stupid and then tell me you warned me not to do it."

"Just because you don't _listen_ , doesn't mean I didn't say it." Andy folded her arms across her chest.

"Alright, ladies, back to your corners." Nigel said from the doorway. The women turned to look at him and deflated a little bit under his annoyed gaze.

"We're here for Miranda and we're going to be on our best behaviors, yes?"

"Don't condescend to us, Nigel." Andy glared.

"The two of you bicker like an old married couple." Nigel said and immediately regretted it.

"If I _ever_ marry that woman," Emily spat, pointing at Andy for emphasis, "do the humane thing and put me out of my misery."

"Go to hell, Emily, why don't you go throw up your lunch?"

"Hey, hey." Cassidy and Caroline walked up, "everything alright up here?"

"Priestly twins," Nigel smiled with relief, "please get these women away from each other." Nigel took Emily by the arm and pulled her forward.

Cassidy offered her a smile, "why don't we go get a drink?"

Emily nodded staunchly, "yes, I think a drink is definitely in order."

Nigel put his hands on Caroline's shoulder, "I guess you get Andy. I'm going to go find your mother."

Caroline nodded, "cool, see you for dinner. Promptly at 6:30. Don't be late. Seriously."

Andy gave Caroline an apologetic smile as Nigel walked away down the hallway. She sighed, "sorry about that."

"No worries," Caroline sat down on the bed, "I have a bitch for a roommate and we fight all the time."

"But you two didn't _choose_ each other to live with, right? It was a randomly assigned thing and now you're stuck." Caroline shrugged and Andy continued, "we made the conscious decision to move in together and it has turned out to be the most colossal mistake either of us has ever made."

"Can I make an observation?"

"Please."

"You don't fight like a couple about to break up." Caroline shook her head, "there's a lot of passion in it. I went through three of my mom's divorces and there's a certain amount of resignation and contempt in impending break up arguments that you seem to be lacking."

Andy shook her head, "I don't know. I think we're just too different. Differences that we didn't really notice when we were just dating but living together makes everything just... _stick out_ , everything is just annoying tenfold."

Caroline shrugged her shoulders, "I've never heard anyone say that relationships were supposed to be easy."

"That's true but they are supposed to be _possible_ and... I just can't imagine this relationship working."

"It's been almost four years..." Caroline pointed out.

"Four years too long."

"Whatever, you know more about it than I do." She looked up at Andy and smiled slowly, "so... Scrabble?"

"I thought you'd never ask!"

**

"I can't believe I'm sitting here with one of the _Priestly_ twins." Emily mumbled into her third drink.

"Don't hold back." Cassidy rolled her eyes.

"You know what fucking kills me?"

"No." Cassidy put her elbow on the table and said, without any enthusiasm, "tell me."

"That I wouldn't have even been invited here if it wasn't for Andy! Andy's her _friend_ and I was her slave for six years."

"She made you assistant editor, didn't she?" Cassidy raised her eyebrows.

"Only because Andy didn't work there anymore." Emily grumbled. "How are they friends?"

"Um," Cassidy furrowed her brow, "because she's likable? Because she's _not_ the most obnoxious drunk on the planet?"

**

"Hey, Donna, I don't mean to interrupt," Skye announced, approaching Miranda and Donna, "but the food delivery man is here and needs you to check the order."

"Oh, of course." Donna smiled and gave Miranda a kiss, "hold that thought, darling."

Miranda smiled as Donna went off to attend to the pressing matter of the order. Miranda had tried to do it once to lighten Donna's load but the delivery man had been severely over-sensitive and now he refused to talk anyone other than Donna. Miranda pleaded ignorance.

Nigel came out from the hotel and spotted Miranda, "just the sun soaked island native I was looking for."

Miranda smiled, "cheeky."

"You look happy, Miranda." Nigel smiled, "happy looks really good on you."

"I _am_ happy, Nigel. I've fallen completely head over heels in love for the first time in my life." She sat down on a deck chair and he sat down on the one next to her.

"Who'd have thought? You two seem so different."

"Oh, she's exactly my kind of woman. She's very discerning, not about her clothes as much, but about everything else. She's funny and smart and very loving. Also, she's gone through three maids this year alone because she's so fussy about the cleaning."

"Okay, now I get it." Nigel laughed, "what about you? How are you keeping yourself busy these days?"

"Chewing furniture." She smirked.

"What?"

"I'm chewing the furniture and chasing my tail. Donna thinks I'm bored and... I am. I don't want to talk about that, though, I want you to tell me how running the magazine with Emily is going. Better since last we conversed?"

He nodded, "much better. Annoying as it is sometimes to share the job with Emily it is also a godsend to be able to still have some semblance of a life."

"Micromanaging. Something I never had the knack for."

"Well, you knew how you wanted something done and who better to realize your vision than you?"

She shrugged. "I enjoyed it."

"I know you did." He grinned, "you enjoyed everyone pissing themselves when you showed up every morning."

"Who doesn't love a power trip?"

"Miranda, what if you became a contributing writer?" Nigel suggested.

She sighed and shook her head, "Nigel, I haven't done much writing in the last 20 years."

"You have such a unique and wonderful voice. It could even be a grievance column and everything, your witty contempt for incompetence is hilarious when it isn't directed at your shaking underlings, readers would love that."

She shook her head more firmly, "I'm not writing for Runway. It’s like a demotion."

“It’s not a demotion. It’s freelance. Miranda, you’re a gifted writer.”

“Nigel, _no._ ”

"Alright, I just want you to know if you change your mind it's an option." Nigel smiled a little and sighed, leaning back in his chair.

"Are Andy and Emily not getting along?" Miranda furrowed her brow, looking over the terrace to see Emily by the bar with Cassidy.

"Oh my god. Not even a little bit." He rolled his eyes. "It is so trying. An eight hour plane ride and half hour ferry ride with them is my new idea of what Hell must be like. Sartre said it right: “Hell is other people.”"

Miranda nodded knowingly. “I’m surprised that Andrea didn’t mention anything. I talked to her last month. Hadn’t they moved in together by then?”

“Methinks they’re both trying to pretend it isn’t happening.” He sighed, “they’ve been in their new apartment for a month and a half.”

“I’ve always thought they made an odd couple.” Miranda admitted.

Nigel scoffed.

Miranda turned to look at him and raised an eyebrow, “you scoffed?”

“They’re you and Donna. A fashion diva and a plainly dressed but fiery femme.”

Miranda shook her head definitively. “No, they’re completely different than we are.”

Nigel waited for her to continue and when she didn’t he gently encouraged, “on what do you base that claim?”

“They’re both very hot tempered.”

Nigel scoffed, “and you’re not?”

“You stop scoffing at me or I’m done with this conversation.”

“Forgive me if I say: case in point.”

“No, I’m not hot tempered. I’m demanding and occasionally unreasonable. Hot tempered people _yell_ and it is completely against my nature to raise my voice, I find it barbaric and unnecessary. I am cool and calm in the face of crisis.”

“That you are, old girl.” Nigel conceded.

“Emily is no Miranda Priestly.”

“Right again.”

“And Andrea… she’s too smugly satisfied with herself to be a Donna. Donna’s mother was a little bit emotionally abusive so if you get too loud or firm with her she backs down, Andrea would come out swinging. Don’t take that to mean that Donna isn’t strong, she’s incredibly strong and she’s unfathomably smart, she doesn’t think she is because she never went to university but she’s smart as a whip.” Miranda paused to think for a moment, “Donna earns everything she has, Andrea feels entitled to it.”

Nigel nodded, “you’re right.”

“Donna and I complement each other and Emily and Andrea complement each other a little but there’s more overlap and there’s more missing. They don’t make a whole.”

Nigel laughed, “your gift of analogy is breathtaking.”

“I’m not writing for Runway.”

“But Miranda!”

“No.” She said firmly and quietly.

Miranda’s cell phone vibrated in her pocket. Miranda furrowed her brow. “It’s too early for dinner…” she said to herself. She read the message, “oh. It’s appetizers, Donna’s putting on the whole spread tonight.”

“The whole shebang.” He grinned, “I’m looking forward to the food.”

Miranda stood up and held out her arm to Nigel.

Nigel stood and hooked arms with Miranda, “lead on, Madame.”

**

Donna was bustling around the kitchen helping the cooking staff finish the appetizers. She flourished into the dining room and almost ran into Miranda. Donna smiled and put steadying hands on Miranda’s arms. “Do you need something, beautiful?”

“I came to help.”

“No.” Donna grinned, “you’re sitting down and relaxing.”

“When do _you_ get to sit down and relax?”

“When I’m dead.”

Miranda rolled her eyes with a smile. Donna ushered her into the dining room, “go, go, go. Sit.”

Andy entered the dining room before Miranda could protest and Donna disappeared into the kitchen again when Andy greeted her white haired friend.

Miranda sighed but turned more congenially to Andy, “Andrea. How was your flight? We haven’t spoken yet.”

Andy laughed easily at Miranda’s formal speech, “it was long, actually. We had a little bit of a layover in Paris. Brought back some really bitter memories from Emily.”

Miranda pursed her lips. “The two of you, then.” She paused, “not getting on the way you’d hoped?”

Andy sighed and was about to continue when Emily entered the dining room with Cassidy, followed closely by Caroline. Emily held a martini glass in one hand and used the other to support herself against the wall.

Andy moved to her. She took the martini glass from her hand, set it down on the table and wrapped an arm around her. Emily leaned into her affectionately and Andy kissed her cheek sweetly.

“Perhaps a pot of coffee is in order.” Cassidy said as she moved past Miranda into the kitchen. Frankly, she was grateful to have handed Emily off to Andy.

Skye and Sophie followed Donna into the dining room with a few of Donna’s wait staff. Donna cleared her throat and the patrons turned to her, “thank you everyone, thank you all for being here. I for one feel very blessed to have so many good people under our roofs. Some of our good friends from New York are here as are Miranda’s two daughters. And I hope Villa Donna feels as much like home to everyone else as much as it does to me.”

“I’ll drink to that,” Nigel smiled picking up his water.

Miranda caught Donna by the arm, “now you’re going to sit here next to me if I have to glue you to your seat.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Donna smiled and sat next to her, she leaned in and kissed her.

“Your toast was very sweet.” Miranda murmured against her lips.

Donna’s lips curled into a smile. “I’m very happy.”

“So am I.” Miranda kissed her again.


	2. Chapter 2

Members of the wait staff milled around the dining room with the trays of appetizers. Among the food items were stuffed spicy peppers with feta, fried zucchini, dakos, saganki, and two spreads with crackers: olive tappinade and a yogurt and olive spread, specialty of the house.

Miranda had a little bit of each. They were all foods that she’d become familiar with and the few things that she hadn’t liked at first had grown on her. Donna exclusively served Greek food to her guests but often made separate meals for the two of them. 

Donna sat with her arm loosely around Miranda’s shoulders and her body turned to Andy as they conversed about her recent promotion to managing editor of the newly revamped online news. Being the only current member of the staff proficient with computers and HTML she’d been given the promotion. Donna admitted that she knew nothing about computers and Andy launched into her own special brand of Computers for Dummies.

Miranda turned her attention to the girls. Caroline was enthusiastically describing her recent academics in great detail. Cassidy did the same for her recent athletics, regaling Miranda with the stories of the impossible throws she’d made and how she almost single handedly won at least two games. Miranda silently wondered how well Cassidy’s academics were holding up to her full athletic calendar. Cassidy was grateful that Miranda didn’t ask.

Dinner was leisurely and comfortable. Emily sobered quickly and added her dry British wit to the conversation. Miranda watched Andy and Emily interacting and decided she didn’t think the relationship was doomed, she knew from doomed relationships. Everything they said to each other was snide or sarcastic but their body language was still genial. They leaned into each other when they spoke and touched often. Miranda felt sure that they’d overcome whatever hump they were currently on top of. She also thought that part of the problem was probably their respective promotions, causing new strain. That would all smooth out eventually.

The other guests had retired and the wait staff cleared dinner away, bringing coffee, cocktails and dessert for the New Yorkers and Donna. Skye and Sophie had even packed it in and called it a night and Donna was fading fast. Nigel, Emily, Andy and the twins had the advantage of having shifted time zones and had hit a second wind with a ferocious voracity. Miranda, Donna swore, didn’t actually need sleep.

Donna yawned and she knew that was it. She stood up slowly from the table. “I’m going to have to hit the hay, I’m afraid.” She leant down and kissed the top of Miranda’s head.

“I won’t be long.”

“Take your time. I’ll be asleep. I won’t know the difference.” Donna smiled. She crossed to the other side of the table and hugged the girls. They kissed her cheeks and everyone wished her a good night.

Donna sleepily dragged herself up the three flights of stairs to her bedroom. She smiled the whole way there, content to know that Miranda was happy and ecstatic that she had made it happen. She crawled under the covers and curled up towards Miranda’s side of the bed, snuggling up to Miranda’s pillow. She took a deep breath and could smell Miranda in the fabric.

 

Day Two

In the morning she awoke with Miranda curled around her. She had her arm over Donna’s stomach and her face buried in her hair.

Donna rubbed her eyes and shifted. Miranda moved with her. Donna kissed her softly on the lips, “I have to get up but you can sleep.”

Miranda mumbled a protest but instantly fell back asleep as Donna extricated herself.

She yawned and rubbed her eyes as she moved through the utility staircase and down into the kitchen. She found the twins there.

Cassidy sipped a cup of coffee leisurely and Caroline leaned against the table and clutched a mug like her life depended on it.

Donna looked concerned and Cassidy put a hand on her sister’s hunched shoulders, “she had a little too much to drink last night.”

Donna nodded knowingly. She moved to the sink and poured a glass of water and found a bottle of aspirin. She set the glass and two aspirin in front of Caroline, “some things they don’t teach you in school. Drink at least as much water as you had alcohol and take a vasodilator.”

“A what?”

“A vasodilator. It expands the veins so blood can move more freely. It’s what you take when you have a headache.”

Caroline gulped the aspirin down. “Thanks.” She said weakly.

“No problem. It’s in everyone’s best interest for you to feel better before your mother gets up and joins us.”

Cassidy looked at the clock, “not to worry. She stayed up even longer than we did. She’ll be in bed for a while.”

“Well,” Donna shrugged, “she’s been sleeping less than she used to, so who knows? I suggest getting better in a hurry, regardless.”

“I’m trying, Donna, believe me.”

**

Andy rolled over in bed and looked over at Emily’s sleeping form. She sighed softly. She could remember that she had once fallen in love with Emily. She could still even remember the reasons why she’d fallen in love with her. For some reason it wasn’t enough to remember them, it wasn’t enough to _want_ to still love her.

Andy rolled over onto her back and looked up at the ceiling. Time to face another day and she was determined to enjoy her vacation, Emily or no Emily.

**

By the time noon had rolled around Miranda was showered, dressed, caffeinated and fed. She was the last to get up and her guests had all gone to explore the island. Miranda changed into her bathing suit and took her book and towel down to the beach.

That was where Andy found her an hour later. Miranda shielded her eyes from the sun and beckoned Andy to join her.

Andy laid out on her own towel and stretched out in the warm sun. Miranda took out her sunblock and started applying a second coat, “how’s your island exploring going?”

“It’s going well. I walked around with Caroline and Cassidy.” Andy said, “they met up with a group of friends though, so I split off on my own.”

“They’re good guides, they know this island pretty well.”

“So is this what you do every day?” Andy smiled.

Miranda nodded, “it is.” She set the book down. “A couple hours a day I lay out in the sun and read.”

“You have it rough, Miranda.”

Miranda rolled her eyes with a small smile. “I’m a little bored.” Miranda admitted, “my days are routine. It’s a _great_ routine, don’t get me wrong. But every day is the same. Tell me more about your promotion.”

Andy sighed, “I don’t know. Nigel said something to me once when I was still working at Runway. Let’s see if I can remember exactly how he put it… let me know when your whole life goes up in smoke, then it’s time for a promotion. I didn’t think a whole lot about it until Paris and I thought ‘holy shit. I have to get out of here, Runway is going to kill me.’ I’m finding out that leaving Runway was a temporary solution. I thought that by escaping Runway I could escape that. But it’s really true. My whole life has gone up in smoke and I got a promotion.”

Miranda smiled indulgently, “you’re young. With youth comes a flare for the dramatic.”

“I’m not being dramatic.”

“You are.” Miranda insisted, “your life isn’t falling apart. You have a good job, good friends who love you and you’re going through a rough patch in your relationship. Let’s call it the four year itch. There’s sort of a patch of hopelessness in a relationship once the initial passion is ending and the familiarity and comfort are taking over. Sometimes it’s long, sometimes it’s short. Sometimes relationships don’t make it through.”

“And you’ve gone through this?”

“More times than I can count. With the twins’ father it was a very long period of contempt which finally culminated in a divorce. My first husband and I made it through but ultimately I learned that Latin American secretaries are hard to compete with.”

“Did you go through it with Donna?”

“I’m pretty sure.” Miranda thought about it for a moment. “I think we went through it before I moved out here. There was a stretch of time that was about a month long that she’d call me and I was feeling like she was being clingy and needy. I kept the conversations curt and short, she’s too smart to put up with that. She told me to call her when I got over myself.”

“That all only took a month?”

“I called her two days after her ultimatum.”

“It’s really remarkable how different you’ve become.” Andy watched her for a moment. “If Stephen had said that to you you’d’ve served him divorce papers before he could hang up the phone.”

Miranda shrugged, “people change.”

“You don’t believe that.”

“I don’t believe people change on their own.” Miranda corrected, “there has to be a catalyst for change and it’s never instantaneous, I think some people change so slowly that it’s easy to miss.”

Andy sighed. “Am I changing?”

Miranda nodded.

“For the better?”

“You’re the only one who can answer that. You have to live with you, no one else does.”

Day Three

Nigel faced himself in the mirror. “Come on, old boy.” He said to the reflection, “don’t chicken out this time. Miranda’s reasonable… well, no, she can be completely _un_ reasonable sometimes… but she’s not _heartless_ …”

He jumped when he heard the knock on the door. “What is it?” He called.

“Breakfast is served,” Andy responded, “it’s been ready for half an hour.”

“I’ll be right there.” He sighed, unable to keep the annoyance out his voice.

“They’re going to clear it away in ten minutes.” Andy said softly, “and don’t get mad at me because you’re hungover again this morning.”

Nigel took a deep breath. “Andy, I’m sorry.” He opened the door and found that Andy had already retreated. Time to make amends later.

**

Miranda laid in bed, her arm was up behind her head and her clothing was half removed. She was waiting for Donna to reenter the room from the bathroom. “Baby, I’m going to go to the mainland this afternoon, do you want to-”

Miranda blinked innocently, “do I want to what?” Miranda’s fingers traveled down her torso and traced her curves.

Donna wasted no time, she straddled Miranda’s hips and ground down against her, “do you want to scream my name as I make you come?”

Miranda moaned, “I’ll clear my schedule.”

Donna’s hand slid up the inside of Miranda’s thigh, “your body is so sexy.” Donna leaned down and dragged her teeth over Miranda’s neck.

Miranda grabbed the hem of Donna’s shirt and quickly and easily yanked it up over her creamy skin. Donna sat up and Miranda finished removing the garment. Quickly Miranda removed her pants and found that she had not put on underwear.

Donna looked down to see Miranda grinning with lust. Donna blushed, “I need to do laundry.”

“I’m not complaining,” Miranda purred, her fingers immediately snaking into the blonde pubic hair and slipping through the slick wetness to sink into her pussy.

Donna hissed, Miranda had an uncanny ability to turn the tables on her. Miranda wrapped her arm around Donna’s waist, pulling her down onto her fingers as hard as she could. Donna’s back arched and she ground her hips down.

The fingers twisted and thrust inside her. Donna’s fingers slipped into Miranda’s hair and her eyes rolled back into her head. Miranda was well aware of all of the right buttons to press, she knew just where to push to drive Donna completely mad.

If there had ever been a time when Donna thought she’d miss having sex with men it was a very distant memory. She clung to Miranda as she tugged her strings like a puppet master, each action specific and precise.

Miranda’s breath was ragged as she drove into Donna, a thin layer of sweat coated her hot body. Donna’s come dripped down Miranda’s slender fingers as the muscles clamped down.

Donna rode the fingers hard, gripping Miranda’s hair for all she was worth. Finally, the sensations overtook her as she collapsed onto the older woman and held her tightly as she gasped for air.

Miranda reached up and gently coaxed Donna’s fingers from her silver hair. Donna laughed embarassedly, “I did it again, didn’t I?”

“Yes, you did, beautiful.” Miranda smiled, “it may be white, but it’s still attached. My brittle old body doesn’t need you to help it along.”

“You are anything but brittle, Miranda.” Donna sat up and ran her hands over Miranda’s midsection. “You’re only sixty.”

Miranda scoffed, “ _only_ sixty…”

“Sweetheart, you have a body a forty-year-old would kill for.” Donna’s fingers tapped Miranda’s stomach, which was taut and tight from her island gallivanting – both Staten and Greek. “Can we take this conversation as read? It always ends the same way.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You feel bad about your age, I tell you how flawless your body is and you still hate it. The fact of the matter is that your body is a million times better than mine.”

“I’m having a bit of a midlife crisis.”

“I noticed that, beautiful.” Donna said soothingly, reaching up and caressing her scalp. “You’re feeling a bit of purposelessness. Let’s get this out of the way: your body is beautiful. You’re devastatingly intelligent. Your daughters love you, _my_ daughter loves you. Most importantly, _I_ love you, I am _in love_ with you. There is not a thing in the world that is wrong with you.”

“ _You_ are perfect, Donna,” Miranda closed her eyes and shook her head.

“I’m a _saint_ for putting up with you,” Donna said playfully leaning in and kissing Miranda’s forehead. Miranda wrinkled her nose in a faux annoyance. Donna’s laugh was so warm and genuine that Miranda couldn’t even pretend to be offended. 

“What are you going into the mainland for?” Miranda wanted to bring the subject back to its original destination. Miranda’s fingers came up and circled around Donna’s nipple idly.

Donna sighed contentedly, leaning into Miranda, “um.” She said, trying vainly to remember what had prompted her to go to the mainland in the first place. Donna laughed, “I don’t remember.”

Miranda’s other hand slipped between Donna’s legs, “maybe you should get your memory checked out.”

“Oh… Miranda…” she groaned, her eyes slipping shut, her lips parting and soft whimpers falling out as Miranda’s fingers caressed her opening. Donna’s hands shook as she brought them up to Miranda’s hair.

Miranda quirked an eyebrow, her eyes trying to follow Donna’s movements. Miranda’s heart skipped a beat as she waited to see if Donna would remove her hands on her own.

Donna moaned, sliding further down onto Miranda’s fingers.

Miranda let out a loud yelp as Donna clenched her fingers, tugging harshly on Miranda’s hair, her already bruised and beaten scalp refusing to endure any more abuse. Donna released immediately but not before the tears had sprung to Miranda’s eyes. 

Donna bit her lip, “Miranda, I am _so_ sorry!” She cried apologetically, reaching out to stroke Miranda’s hair.

Miranda flinched and shied away from Donna’s hands. “I will accompany you to the mainland.” She pouted, getting out from under Donna. Donna watched helplessly as she started to gather up her clothing. “I’m going to invest in a good pair of handcuffs.” Miranda spat, but when Donna looked at her eyes she could see that they were playful rather than vengeful.

Donna smiled, “so you don’t hate me?”

“Me? I could never hate you.” Miranda pulled her deep purple Donna Karan tank top on and shook out her hair. “My scalp on the other hand…”

“Oh sweetheart,” Donna got off the bed and went to Miranda, Miranda jumped back.

“Hey killer, keep those paws to yourself.” Miranda laughed, “get dressed.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

**

Miranda’s sunglasses barely shielded her eyes from the afternoon sun that beat down on the women as she and Donna walked down the pier. They stood at the end of the line as other people boarded the ferry.

Normally Miranda would be complaining that they were last and probably would have to stand except that it was unquestionably Miranda’s fault that they arrived _fashionably_ late.

Miranda was about to step up onto the ferry when Skye yelled out, “Miranda! Hey, I’m glad I caught you in time.”

“What is it?” She furrowed her brow.

“The DHL man was just here, you must have missed him. He brought this for you. It says urgent so I thought I should get it to you.”

“Well,” she looked at the sealed letter, “thank you, Skye.”

“Have a good time on the mainland.”

“We will,” Donna smiled, “and I’ll get those magazines for you.”

“You’re one in a million, Donna,” he grinned before trotting back towards the hotel.

Miranda climbed aboard the ferry and looked around. Just as she’s suspected. There were open seats all over the place, but two together? Not a chance. She hmphed.

Donna put a hand on her arm, “it’s okay, it’s not a long ride. So we’ll sit apart for twenty minutes. We’ll spend all afternoon together and we’ll arrive fashionably _early_ for the return ferry.”

“I should buy a boat.” Miranda grumbled, taking a seat next to a woman she’d seen around the island a few times.

Donna smiled at her from across the ferry, taking a seat next to one of the women that worked in the kitchen at Villa Donna, they greeted each other familiarly.

Miranda grumbled to herself as she started to rip open the letter. It was from England and who would be sending her an urgent letter from England? She was partially worried that there was a question about her record but tried to will herself to stay calm. Everything had been taken care of.

Donna watched Miranda’s eyes scan over the page, her posture becoming more rigid and her body language becoming anxious.

“Mirà?” Donna called out to her.

Miranda looked up from the letter and frowned, pursing her lips.

“Is everything okay?”

Miranda shook her head slowly.


	3. Chapter 3

Miranda made her way across the beach to the bar where she again found her twins. Miranda took the drink from Cassidy’s hand.

“Hey!” Cassidy objected with confusion.

“Caroline, would you excuse us, please?” Miranda smiled sweetly, trying very hard to stay calm.

“Sure.” Caroline knew that whatever bee was under Miranda’s bonnet was making her quite mad and she was grateful that Miranda didn’t want to take it out on her.

“Thank you, sweetheart.” Miranda replied coolly. Caroline gave her sister a last look over her shoulder before walking away.

Cassidy looked up at her mother, she was too afraid to speak. Miranda drummed her fingers on the bar. She wanted to let Cassidy squirm for a couple of minutes before she let the hammer drop.

“I don’t understand, Cassidy.”

“Don’t understand what? Maybe if you told me what was wrong I could explain it to you.”

Miranda laughed, “that’s such an ironic thing for you to say, Cassidy Anne.”

Middle name. Never a good sign. Cassidy gulped instinctively.

“Because if you’d just _explained_ to me in the first place then this vacation would have been a lot more enjoyable for all of us.”

“Mom,” Cassidy said pleadingly, “please… I don’t…”

“Business services at Oxford sent me back my tuition check.” Miranda handed the cocktail glass back to the bartender. "It’s been almost three months since your semester ended. You had to have known that you were expelled for at least that long. I can’t even fathom how you thought I wouldn’t find out.”

“Mom, I…” Cassidy desperately tried to think of something to say but came up with nothing.

“And, please, don’t insult me by telling me that you’ve been trying to think of how to tell me.” Miranda pursed her lips. “Because there is no excuse in the world that will make this alright. I’m a very supportive mother, I’ve always been understanding when you’ve had academic issues. The thing is that it’s not even about the classes, is it? It’s just that you didn’t apply yourself. You’re such a smart woman, Cassidy. You are so smart when you apply yourself. It’s too bad that there are no opportunities for professional slackers because you would excel at it. Which would be ironic, I realize.”

“Mom.” Cassidy said, trying to interject. She knew that it was never a good sign when Miranda launched into a rant. It was usually an omen of death, actually. She blinked tears out of her eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“No, don’t.” Miranda shook her head. “We’ll talk about this later. I have to lie down.”

Cassidy watched Miranda disappear into the hotel. She wiped at her eyes. Caroline returned, “what happened?” She asked softly.

“The jig is up.”

**

Miranda sat on the bed; Donna sat behind her and waited for her to speak. Miranda rubbed her eyes tiredly. Donna reached out and rubbed Miranda’s shoulder. Miranda sighed and lay back until her head was resting in Donna’s lap.

Donna put a comforting hand on Miranda’s forehead. Miranda looked up at Donna, her expression was very put upon. She sighed.

Donna leaned down and kissed her nose. “Dare I say, like mother like daughter?”

Miranda’s hands flew to cover her eyes and she let out a long groan. “It’s different.”

“I know, sweetie.” Donna stroked Miranda’s hair.

“I got expelled for something I believed in.”

“I know.”

“Not because I was a spoiled, trust fund brat.”

“I know.”

Miranda sat up and turned to look at Donna. She was at a loss for words. Donna looked on sympathetically. She reached up and squeezed Miranda's shoulder. She'd wait for her to continue. 

"This is my fault." She said steadily.

"Miranda, you can't blame yourself. A child's actions are not the fault of their parents. Cassidy is almost nineteen. She makes her own decisions." Donna scooted closer, rubbing Miranda's back, working at a tension knot.

Miranda shook her head, "you can say that and there's some truth to it, but... when they were younger, when Andrea was my assistant, and before her, too, actually, I sometimes had my assistants work on projects for them if they didn't have time." 

"At the risk of incurring your wrath, I daresay that the girls were manipulating you." Donna said simply. Miranda furrowed her brow, prepared to get defensive, but Donna continued, "those girls of yours are _smart_ , they know how to work you. Children of divorce know how to work their guilt-ridden parents." 

Miranda snorted, "some comfort that is. It's still my fault." 

"The only thing you're guilty of is wanting to take care of your daughters. You wanted to give them every opportunity. Maybe you didn't always take the right route, there isn't one parent in the history of the world who didn't make mistakes. My mother was a religious extremist who thought that sex is sin. Look at _me_ , pregnant at 18 and now ridiculously in love with a beautiful woman. I raised Sophie teaching her that men were useless and she still fell in love with and married Skye. Children are supposed to grow up _despite_ their parents." 

Miranda nearly smiled. 

"Should we get into you? Your mother taught you that capitalism is evil. You topped the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business the majority of the years you ran Runway. You and I, of all people, should know that the sins of the mother are not visited on the daughter. Not really." 

Miranda sighed. 

Donna rubbed her shoulders and leaned her forehead against Miranda's, "why don't I get out my hot stones and I'll give you a massage and you can talk to her calmly about what she wants to do now."

"You don't have to give me a massage."

"I don't?" Donna feigned shock, "well, hell, why've I been giving you massages these last couple of years if I didn't have to? What a relief that I don't _have_ to give you massages anymore!" 

"Alright, alright." Miranda laughed, "smartass." 

**

When the dinner plates were being cleared away, Miranda stood up and looked at Cassidy, motioning to the door. Cassidy pushed herself up from the table and left the room to wait for Miranda. 

Nigel approached Miranda, "Miranda, can we talk?"

"Can it wait?" 

Nigel nodded, "yeah... yeah, it can wait." He watched Miranda walk away and watched all the courage he'd mustered up disappear along with her. 

Donna held out a cup of coffee to Nigel. "Coffee?"

He looked over at it and up at Donna, then smiled a little, taking the coffee, "thank you." 

"I'm sure she didn't mean to be so curt." Donna sipped her own coffee, "you know Miranda," she smiled.

Nigel laughed a little and nodded, "I do. I certainly do."

"She's been a little out of sorts. Cassidy was expelled from school and she's beating herself up over it."

"Well, getting kicked out of school is hard, it's good that Miranda's there for her." Nigel sipped his coffee.

"No, I mean _Miranda_ 's beating herself up over it. She thinks that she instilled a poor work ethic in the twins."

Nigel scoffed, "you mean 24-7-Priestly thinks that she set a bad example? The same woman who worked through Christmas three years in a row? The woman who didn't even make it to her own divorce proceedings because she was at a photo shoot? _That_ Miranda?"

Donna laughed, "one in the same. Weight-of-the-world Miranda, she takes everything so personally. She demands perfection and she considers it a personal failing that Cassidy got kicked out."

"Okay, that does sound like Miranda."

"She didn't mean to be insensitive. She just sort of has blinders when it comes to other people's emotions."

Nigel's heart skipped a beat, he faltered, "what do you mean?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be overly forward."

"Overly forward, I've known you for two years now, Donna." Nigel's heart wouldn't stop pounding, but he managed a smile, "after that surprise three hour layover in Prague I feel like there are no secrets between us anymore."

Donna studied his face, she didn't believe that last line for a second. There was clearly something that he was keeping from her. Something, it seemed, that was meant for Miranda. Donna nodded, she was not one to pry. 

Donna nodded and smiled, "why don't we take our coffee on the veranda?" 

**

Miranda was mad. Donna had helped her reach the true meaning of the madness, but damn it all, she was disappointed in her daughter's unwillingness to take responsibility. Her fault, Cassidy's fault: it didn't matter whose fault it was. 

"Mom." Cassidy finally spoke when it was clear that Miranda wasn't going to. 

"No." Miranda cut her off. She shook her hair, "no. I'm not going to let you ruin my week. I am happy to have you and your sister here. You're not ruining that for me. So at the end of the week when everybody has to leave, we're going to figure this out." 

"Figure what out?"

"Figure out what comes next." Miranda explained, "besides, you don't want me to talk about it right now. You really don't."

"Fine." Cassidy stood up and cast Miranda a sidelong glance.

"I love you."

"I love you too." Cassidy grumbled as she ascended the stairs towards her room. 

Day Four

Emily woke up alone. She looked at the clock and let out a frustrated groan. She jumped out of bed and pulled on her clothes, heading for the dining room. She got there when the breakfast dishes were being cleared away. She leaned down and whispered in Andy's ear. "Screw you, too."

Andy looked up and furrowed her brow, "what are you talking about?"

"Not waking me for breakfast. I know what you're doing." Emily hissed.

"What I'm doing?" Andy repeated with incredulity. "You don't eat breakfast! Why would I wake you for breakfast?"

"I drink _coffee_. I could make witty conversation." 

"Not even if you had Oscar Wilde feeding you lines." 

"God, has the last hundred years of cultural knowledge avoided you like the plague or do you think your outdated social commentary is cute?"

Andy rolled her eyes and stood up from the table, retreating from the dining room. 

"Because it isn't!" Emily called after her, scowling at her retreating form. 

Donna came in from the kitchen, "oh Emily. Can I offer you a cup of coffee?"

She nodded resignedly, "please." 

Donna disappeared and reappeared in a few minutes with a steaming mug of coffee. Emily accepted it wordlessly. "Do you have a costume for the fancy dress party yet?"

"No, not yet." 

"There's a group of guests that're being escorted to the costume shoppe on the mainland today at 1, if you're interested." 

**

Miranda and Caroline were walking down to the beach. Caroline looked over at her mother, "mom, I really need to ask you a favor."

Miranda stopped and took a deep breath, "if you tell me you got expelled, too, I'm going to go out of my mind, be forewarned." 

Caroline laughed a little, "mom, are you kidding? I'm on the Dean's List." 

"Failing is not the only reason students get expelled." 

"You know from experience?"

"Nice try." Miranda smirked, "what's the favor?"

"Okay, well, there's this really great opportunity to go abroad and do some field reporting." Caroline started, trying to study Miranda's face to get moment to moment reactions.

Miranda, however, was a blank slate as she waited for the part that she wasn't going to like.

"And normally they don't let sophomores do it because you have to have an internship and that usually happens in the summer after your sophomore year because internships want you to have two years of school."

Caroline watched Miranda's face. "Go on." Miranda prodded.

"Well, I was hoping... for a little nepotism. If you could get me an internship at Runway this summer I could go abroad during the year and I can graduate a year early. If I can bulk up on my classes while I'm here then I'll have all my credits by the end of my junior year." Caroline looked at her mother pleadingly, "I really want to do this, mom, I really do. I think that having a head start helps me be a competitive contender in this unstable economy. This is really important to me." 

Miranda licked her lips thoughtfully. "Where would you be going abroad?"

Caroline hesitated, she'd hoped Miranda wouldn't ask that. "Iraq."

Miranda scoffed, "dear God, Caroline. If I were to help you do that I may as well put you in front of a firing squad myself."

"Mom!"

"Women are not very highly thought of in middle eastern countries, I don't think this is a good idea and I don't think I can enable that." Miranda said sternly. 

Caroline furrowed her brow and frowned. "You know, without your help I'm just going to go to Iraq in my junior year. I'm an adult and you can't stop me."

"Well, then I'll have bought you an extra year."

"Mom, come on!"

"No, Caroline. Not a chance in Hell." Miranda shook her head, "it's reckless and dangerous at best. _Suicidal_ at worst. I can't put you in harm's way like that and still look myself in the mirror." 

"This is so unfair."

"No, Caroline, this isn't unfair, it's perfectly reasonable for me to deny you this. There's not a parent alive who would make a different decision."

"Fine." Caroline huffed and turned back towards the hotel. 

"I thought we were going swimming." Miranda furrowed her brow.

"I'm not in the mood anymore." She grumbled. 

Miranda sighed in frustration and threw her arms up. "What next?" Miranda muttered to herself, "what else could possibly be thrown at me?"

She stopped short in the sand, considered what she'd just said and amended herself, "no, no, I don't mean that. I don't want to jinx myself. Please, disregard what I just said."

Andy giggled as she approached Miranda, "what are you doing?"

"I'm trying to take back something I just said." She explained. 

Andy looked to the left and saw no one and then looked to the right and saw no one, "who did you say it to?"

Miranda gestured in front of her resignedly, "you know, the universe. The cosmic power that controls everything that happens." 

Andy giggled again, Donna was rubbing off on her in a big way. "Well, what did you say to the universe?"

"I'm not repeating it. If I managed to unjinx myself, I don't want to take a chance on not being able to do it again."

"It was that bad, was it? The thing that you said that you may have jinxed?"

"Yes." Miranda said simply.

"Could you at least give me some details about what's bothering you?" 

"Who says something's bothering me?" Miranda asked coyly.

"You don't talk to yourself when everything is fine and dandy." 

"I wasn't talking to myself." Miranda said, sounding a little put out.

Andy smiled indulgently, "alright, you don't talk to the powers that be when you're not upset about something."

Miranda sighed. "Well, I guess my problem is that I have one daughter who wants to ruin her life by sabotaging her education and one daughter who wants to ruin her life by getting herself condemned to death." 

Andy looked alarmed, "what's Caroline doing that's going to get her condemned to _death_?"

"She wants to go abroad to Iraq! She wants to be a field correspondent." 

"That's really brave of her."

"That's _stupid_ of her. Don't defend this ludicrous notion. I clearly confided this in the wrong person."

Andy looked sympathetic, "Miranda, it's not as if she'd be there alone. She would have a trip advisor and she'd be with a group of other students. She'd probably be on a very short leash, Northwestern doesn't want the publicity of their students being killed. Frankly, I think it's better she do it in college than after she graduates and goes alone." 

Miranda frowned at her friend. 

Andy shrugged, "maybe you should think about it and do a little research into the program before you flat out tell her no. If it's something she wants and you try to stop her it could irreparably damage your relationship."

"That's a risk I'm willing to take if it means she stays alive. I'd rather have an alive daughter who hates me than a dead one who loves me."

Andy shrugged again, "it's your decision."

"First sensible thing you've said this whole conversation." Miranda pursed her lips.

Andy gestured to the ocean, trying to change the subject, "are you going swimming?"

Miranda shook her head, "no. I'm not in the mood anymore." Miranda headed back toward the hotel and turned back to Andy, "make sure you have a costume for the party, it's important to Donna."

"Nigel and I are going to go get ours a little later. Do you want to come?" Andy called.

"No, I already have my costume." Miranda turned around and headed toward the hotel again.

Andy jogged to Miranda, "you won't just come with us because we're your friends? We could get a cup of coffee somewhere? Or some ice cream?"

Miranda cast Andy a sidelong glance.

"Hey, don't be mad at me for having a different opinion. Remember what you said? In lieu of friends you had people who stood up to you. And you know I love Caroline and I wouldn't have said that if I thought she'd be in real danger." 

Miranda remained tight lipped. 

Andy sighed, "if you change your mind about coming with us we're taking the three o'clock ferry."


	4. Chapter 4

Miranda lay on the bed with her face in her pillows. Donna sat on Miranda's ass as she kneaded her back. "Maybe this week was a bad idea, I'm sorry, sweetheart."

"No," Miranda turned her head to look at Donna, "no, I love my surprise. I'm glad my friends and family are here. It's not your fault that they're all incredibly burdensome. Except Nigel."

Donna smiled, "I wouldn't bet my life on that, beautiful."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Miranda sounded worried. 

"Well," Donna said, her fingers moving up Miranda's spine, "he seems to have something on his mind that seems to be meant for your ears only. I'd stake my life savings that it's a doozy." 

"That sounds like a lot of inferences." 

"Well, my love, there's something on that man's mind. That much is indisputable." 

Miranda grumbled into the pillows. 

"For what it's worth, darling, I think you should go to the mainland with Andy and Nigel." Miranda started to protest and Donna pushed her forearm into the top of Miranda's back. She leaned all the way down to whisper in her ear, "they came all this way to see you and you're being antisocial." 

"I _am_ antisocial. They know that." 

"Well, suck it up."

"Did you just tell me to suck it up?" Miranda demanded playfully, twisting and toppling Donna back onto the bed. Donna laughed and Miranda straddled her hips. Her fingers went straight to her armpits, tickling mercilessly. 

Donna let out hearty, uncontrollable bursts of laughter as she struggled against Miranda, "mercy! Mercy!"

"Suck it up!" Miranda grinned, pinning her to the bed.

Donna's hands went to Miranda's hips and she bucked up, knocking Miranda over and they both fell to the floor in a flurry of blankets. "Oh god, my ass." 

Donna laughed again, hugging her girlfriend, "I love you so much." 

"You're a bad influence. Bad, _bad_ influence." Miranda pushed herself up off the floor, she rubbed her ass.

"Hey, hey, that's my job." Donna slid her hands over Miranda's ass. Miranda yelped as Donna nipped at her bum, clad in a short Chanel skirt. 

Donna got to her feet and took Miranda's hands. Miranda squeezed Donna's hands and smiled at her, shaking her head, "I'm in love with you, Donna Sheridan. So much in love. You're a terrible influence." 

"Yeah, I'm the bad influence." Donna's eyes twinkled with mischief. "Now, get your ass down to the ferry, you have just enough time to make it." 

**

Nigel and Andy settled into their seats as the ferry started to move away from the dock. Andy sighed, "I guess she decided not to come after all. I really thought she'd get over herself."

Nigel scoffed, "I can't imagine that happening." 

The ferry stopped and all the passengers looked around in confusion. Andy saw a flash of white hair as Miranda grabbed the railing and pulled herself up. 

"Lady, I have a schedule to keep." The driver griped as Miranda straightened her skirt.

Miranda shot him a withering glare, pushed her sunglasses onto her face and flipped her hair at him dismissively. Miranda approached Andy and Nigel, "is there room for one more?"

Andy grinned and scooched over and Miranda wedged herself in between her two friends. "I'd given up on you." Andy admitted.

Miranda nodded, "the only reason I'm here is because my better half truly has a lot more sense than I do." 

"Thank god one of you has some sense." Andy teased.

"So what costume did you get for the party?" Nigel inquired.

"Aphrodite." 

"What's Donna's costume?"

Miranda shook her head, "I don't know, we're keeping our costumes a surprise."

"And you don't think Donna's going to go as Aphrodite?" Nigel asked with skepticism.

"Doubtful." 

**

Andy pushed costumes along the racks as she perused the selection, "do you think that a lot of the other guests will go to the costume party?"

Miranda looked up from a magazine to answer Andy, "she usually has a very good turn out at her parties. She has one a month, generally. I think that a lot of people attend because Villa Donna is about authenticity and the sort of guest that is attracted by that is the sort of guest who would participate in events."

"Do you think Donna will sing?" Nigel asked, picking up a costume, thinking about it and then scowling. 

Miranda smiled fondly, "probably." She put down the magazine, "Cassidy and Caroline will probably join her. Provided they're not both still in bad moods." 

"Miranda, would you help me?" Nigel sighed. "The men's selection is dismal. I am in desperate need of your expertise." 

"Actually," Miranda grinned devilishly, "I had something in mind for you." 

"What about me?" Andy asked.

"You?" Miranda looked over and shrugged playfully, "you're a lost cause." 

Day Five

The party was underway by six. Donna had overseen the start, hassled the DJ and helped lay out the food before disappearing into the hotel to put on her costume. Miranda ventured out when she saw Donna go in. 

Miranda sauntered past the dance floor where the guests were already dancing. None of the New Yorkers had joined the festivities yet, however, so Miranda went to the bar and got herself a mojito while she waited. 

Miranda's knee length tunic was belted with a gold rope and a hand woven olive branch head piece. On her feet she wore a pair of gladiator style three inch heels. She felt that she'd captured the essence of the costume even if she had felt a little old to be wearing it. 

Emily and Andy came down first. Emily was decked out in a tight pleather Catwoman catsuit, complete with thigh high stilettos and a whip holstered at her side, though she'd forgone the mask. Andy was wearing the Victorian bar maid's dress she'd picked out the day before. Miranda didn't love that it was a bar maid's dress but had always had a certain fondness for Victorian style dresses. 

Miranda raised her drink to catch their attention and they joined her at the bar. 

"Right in your element." Emily muttered to Andy as she lifted a glass of wine to her lips.

"At least I'm wearing a whole costume." Andy rolled her eyes, "who wears a Catwoman costume without the mask?" 

"It's a party." Miranda interjected. "You could try to have fun."

Emily downed her wine. "I'm on my way."

"Where's Donna?" Andy asked, looking around. 

"Inside getting dressed." Miranda grinned as her daughters approached, "you two look really cute." 

They each did a little spin in their matching Thing One and Thing Two outfits. "We couldn't decide who'd be which number." Caroline, who was Thing Two, "so we put them face down and picked at random." 

"I dressed you as Thing One and Thing Two once when you were young." Miranda reminisced.

They furrowed their brows. "I don't remember that," Cassidy said, thinking. "I've seen all the Halloween pictures of us."

"It wasn't for Halloween." Miranda shook her head, "your father and I were going to a costume ball at his firm and I didn't want to go because I was tired and grumpy and your father and I were... having marital difficulties. I finally decided to go but I had to stop on the way to get costumes for us. I got you Thing One and Thing Two shirts and I got myself a Cat in the Hat hat." 

"That sounds really cute, are there any pictures?" 

"Your father may have some." She sipped the mojito, "none of me, of course, but he might have some of you." 

The women were distracted from their conversation by the whistling and cat calling as Nigel walked across the dance floor. Miranda bit her lip on a grin, "Nigel..."

"Go ahead and laugh, Priestly," he flipped the blonde wig, "you're just jealous."

Miranda's eyes swept over the Marilyn Monroe costume and back up to examine his make-up. "You look stunning. Even better than I'd imagined. Don't you need your glasses to see, though?" 

"How would I get the squinting look if I put my glasses on?" He grinned and added, "contacts, my dear." 

Before either of them could continue the conversation, the DJ lowered the music and Skye cleared his throat to catch everyone's attention, "ladies and gentlemen, cherished guests, allow me to introduce our hostess for the evening, Ms. Liberty, herself!" 

Donna struck a pose as she stepped out onto her courtyard. "Welcome to the party!"

"Sing for us!" Skye yelled.

Donna started singing America the Beautiful and the crowd laughed, "not what you had in mind?" She joked, "no, no, you don't want to hear me sing. At least not until you've had a considerable amount of alcohol. Our handsome and charming bartender would be more than happy to mix you anything you'd like. And there's plenty of food and there are going to be contests throughout the night and, of course, open mic. So eat, drink and be merry!" 

Miranda grinned at her lady love as she approached, spinning and showing off her Statue of Liberty costume. "What do you think?"

"Well, my first thought is where on earth did you get so many sea foam green garments?" Miranda laughed.

"I bought them white and dyed them. I could have gotten the costume dress but I didn't think I'd be able to dance very well in it. So I got stretch pants and a loose billowing blouse."

"Ah. I see. You got your costume from the 1980's." Miranda wrapped her arms around Donna and pulled her close, "it all becomes clear." 

Donna captured Miranda's grinning lips in a kiss, "and you. You make a magnificent Aphrodite. You're a vision. Are these real olive branches?" Donna ran her fingers over the wooden halo.

Miranda nodded, "they are. Hand woven."

Donna smiled and kissed Miranda again, her hands splaying over Miranda's back, kissing her deeply. Miranda sighed with contentment into the kiss, holding her tight. When the kiss broke Donna spun Miranda around, "will you dance with me?" 

Miranda let out a throaty giggle, "how can I refuse you anything?" 

Donna took her hand and kissed it. Miranda let Donna pull her onto the courtyard, Donna's hands held her tightly as she moved them to the music. Miranda loved feeling Donna's body pressed against her and even came close to forgetting she was in a crowd of people. 

"Would you like to dance?" Emily asked, turning to Andy.

"Are you asking _me_?" Andy replied coyly.

"If you make me repeat myself, consider the offer rescinded." Emily held out her hand to Andy. Andy's hand slid into it and gave it a gentle squeeze. 

They looked into each other's eyes for a moment. Emily leaned in and kissed Andy softly on the lips. Andy scarcely had time to react before Emily pulled her into the middle of the court yard. 

Miranda had retired to the sidelines after a half an hour. Nigel took her place as a dancing partner for Donna until Skye cut in. Nigel joined Miranda on the sideline. He leaned in and said directly into her ear, "can we go somewhere quieter? Can we talk?"

Miranda nodded and stood up, leading the way down a path off of the courtyard which led to a rocky beach. Miranda shivered in her thin Aphrodite's costume as the ocean sprayed salt water into the night air. Both parties' high heels sunk into the soft sand. 

Miranda wrapped her arms around her body and waited for Nigel to speak. 

Nigel looked down at the wet sand and wondered if he had the courage to speak. He took a deep breath and said, "Miranda, I really hate to ask you this... but I need a really big favor."

Miranda held her breath, waiting for him to continue.


	5. Chapter 5

Nigel looked out over the ocean, the lights from the mainland were distant blips on the horizon. The noise from the party was a dull thumping. Nigel looked over at Miranda, his eyes were wet with unshed tears.

"Nigel," Miranda stepped forward, not caring about the sand in her shoes, "what's wrong?"

"I..." He wiped at his eyes, "I... I was told a while ago by my doctor that I'm HIV positive."

Miranda's mouth fell open. 

"It's just... so damn unfair. I've always been so careful. I'm not a huge risk taker, Miranda, you know me. I only take risks with my wardrobe."

"So..." Miranda's heart was in her throat. 

"I got a bad blood transfusion last year when I had appendicitis." He shook his head.

Miranda put a hand on his arm. She wanted to say something, she wanted to react in a real, meaningful way, but she was frozen there, watching a tear slide down his cheek. 

"I found..." he took a steadying breath, "there's an experimental trial in Switzerland. I got into it. But, uh... I'd have to be gone for six months." 

Miranda pulled in a shaky breath.

"I need... well, Emily can't do the job by herself." Nigel looked away from Miranda, "you're the best person for the job, Miranda. It'll just be for six months. Either until I come back or until you find a suitable replacement."

" _Shut up_." Miranda snapped. Nigel stared at her in surprise. A wind blew through the beach, rustling their dresses. Miranda sighed heavily and wiped her eyes.

"You're going to be back. You're going to be fine." Miranda whispered harshly.

"Will you do it?" He was crying then. 

"Yes." She said softly, wiping her eyes again. "Yes, _of course_."

"Miranda, thank-" 

" _Stop talking_." She demanded as she pulled him against her, she pressed her face into his shoulder, clutching him tightly. 

**

Donna looked around after she announced the winner of the limbo contest. She caught Sophie's attention, "have you seen Miranda?" 

"No, not for a while." She shook her head. 

"I'm going to run inside, see if she's in our room." Donna said, "can you announce dessert in half an hour if I'm not back?"

"No problem, mum." Sophie nodded. 

Donna mounted the steps to go inside when she felt a hand on the small of her back. She turned her head to see Miranda. "Where are you going? Don't tell me you're tired of your party already."

Donna smiled softly at her lover, "no," she joined her on the landing, "I was looking for you, actually."

"I was talking to Nigel."

"Oh?" Donna waited for her to continue. Miranda remained silent, so Donna pressed, "and?"

"And I'll tell you later." Miranda wrapped her arm around Donna's waist and pointed her back towards the party, "this is a party, Sheridan."

**

Emily groaned and grumbled as she hobbled to the staircase. "You have two left feet. I don't know what I was thinking." 

"There's no way you're going to try to blame that on me." Andy let go of Emily, causing her to stumble unsteadily.

Emily put a hand on her hip and scowled, using the other hand to prop herself against the wall, "I certainly didn't step on my own foot. These are my favorite stilettos and now they're ruined." 

"No, you didn't step on your own foot," Andy said as they entered the hallway to their room. "What happened was that you're tipsy and your heel got caught in the cobblestones, which broke your heel. I stepped on your foot when I was trying to steady you." 

Emily threw open the door, "so you do admit you stepped on my foot!"

"They're big enough!" Andy slammed the door behind them. She pushed Emily back against it, eyes narrowed. Emily glared and sneered before their lips met in a bruising kiss. Andy pulled the Catwoman suit down hard, she dragged her toward the bed.

"Hey, hey, foot, foot." Emily protested, stumbling on her hurt foot. They fell on the bed. Emily yanked the dress off of Andy. "I've been waiting to get you out of this hideous dress all fucking night." 

Emily grunted as she shoved her hand into Andy's panties. Andy moaned and rocked against Emily's palm. Andy's hands sought out Emily's breasts, she cupped them and wrapped her lips around the sensitive areole. Emily hissed and dragged her fingernails up Andy's back. 

Andy's hand snaked its way down into Emily's catsuit and shoved three fingers into her lover. Emily moaned loudly, her head lolling forward to land on Andy's shoulder. Her leg came up to wrap around Andy's waist as she worked harder to tease and rub Andy's clit. Within minutes they were pressed against each other, their breath ragged and their moans low and throaty. 

Their movements became stiffer as they both felt their orgasms nearing. Emily came first, as she usually did, her hand not slowing until Andy's orgasm swept over her.

They collapsed against the bed breathlessly. 

**

Donna, Miranda and Skye were the last people left at the party at 1:30 am. Miranda was asleep on her feet, but had stayed to see the party through to its end for Donna. She wanted to tell Donna what she promised she'd do for Nigel. She wanted to tell Donna as soon as they were alone.

"I'm just going to help clean up a little." Donna told Miranda, giving her hand a gentle squeeze.

"I'll wait for you." Miranda insisted, her eyes threatening to close, her heart desperately wanting to end the day, to crawl into bed, shut out the world and let everything fade away for six to eight hours. She didn't want to climb into any bed without Donna. She didn't want to close her eyes before kissing her girlfriend and wrapping her arms around her waist.

"Look at you," Donna stroked her cheek gently, "you're practically falling over with exhaustion. Why don't you just go up to bed, sweetheart?"

"Because I want to be here _with_ you." Miranda protested. "I just want to see you and be near you."

"How much did you have to drink, Mira?" Donna laughed. 

"I haven't had anything to drink in the last four hours." She said firmly. "I have to be drunk to want to be with you?"

"No, I just..." Donna studied Miranda's face. "What's wrong?" 

Miranda sighed, "it can wait a few minutes. It's already waited a couple hours."

Donna shook her head, "no, I have staff who are paid to clean, right? We can go upstairs and talk." 

Once inside the bedroom Miranda sat on the bed and sighed. The idea of saying it out loud to Donna suddenly made her nervous. Donna took her Statue of Liberty headpiece off and set it on the bureau next to her torch. She approached Miranda and took her olive branches. 

Miranda looked up at Donna forlornly.

"It's about Nigel, isn't it?" Donna asked gently.

Miranda nodded. She looked down at her shoes, reaching down to unfasten them and slip them off her aching feet. She looked back up at Donna, "he's HIV positive." 

Donna's hand went to her mouth, "poor Nigel." She breathed.

"He got into a drug trial though." Miranda looked down at the quilt on the bed. "He'll be gone for six months... in Switzerland." 

Donna waited for her to continue, she knew it wasn't the end of the conversation. 

"He wants me to go back to New York in his stead while he's gone." Miranda admitted quietly. 

Donna sank down onto the bed next to Miranda. She felt conflicted. She obviously thought that Miranda should do this favor for her friend, but the idea of Miranda going back to New York terrified her. "Oh." She said, for lack of anything else to say. 

"Yeah..." Miranda whispered. 

Donna looked over at Miranda and saw tears in her eyes. Donna wrapped her arms around her and they lowered back onto the bed, Miranda buried her face in Donna's shirt, sea foam green or not.

Day Six

Emily also had mixed feelings about Miranda returning to New York. It would be nice to have her sharing some of the responsibilities because Emily knew that Miranda would take on more than half of the work. On the other hand, she knew she'd be eclipsed by Miranda. She'd worked so long and so hard to get out from Miranda's shadow only to be thrust back into it. 

Miranda, instead of spending the last few days of the week with her friends who would return to New York, spent the time with her lover who would stay in Greece. Miranda lay in bed wrapped up in Donna. Donna stroked her hair and kissed her temple and her lips softly. 

Donna had never known Miranda to go so long without talking. Miranda was a woman of few words when she decided to speak but she was not one to allow a grievance to go unspoken. Donna was aware that Miranda didn't like dealing with her feelings, she knew she wasn't going to get anything out of her, not yet. 

Miranda looked up at Donna. Donna stroked her face, "what is it, beautiful?"

"I want to do something." Miranda said simply, "with you, before I leave tomorrow." 

Donna nodded, biting her lip against choking up. "Anything you want."

"You're too accommodating to me." Miranda scolded, "I want to do what you want. That's what I want." 

Donna smiled, twirling a lock of white hair around her finger, "your scalp's going to have plenty of time to heal while you're away."

Miranda pulled Donna's hands away from her. Donna searched her face. "Don't talk about me leaving." 

"Miranda, in all fairness, don't take away my defense mechanism." 

"I'm sorry." She whispered, "I'm sorry, Donna. For all of it." 

"Nothing's your fault."

"I'm not taking blame, I'm just _sorry_." Miranda repeated, "I don't want to leave you." 

Donna closed her eyes, "don't think of it as leaving me. Think of it as... taking a vacation." She looked up into Miranda's eyes again, "you'll see me, sweetheart, we'll talk all the time. I'll get Sophie to help me set up one of those accounts for internet talking, the one with the little camera."

"I can set that up for you." Miranda ran her fingers through Donna's long blonde hair. "I'm going to leave you my laptop." 

"You can't leave me your laptop." Donna looked stunned, "you need your laptop." 

"I can get another one. I want you to have a computer that you can keep here in the room. If we're going to skype, I want to take full advantage of it -- and you." 

"There's my Mirà," Donna smiled and kissed her lips. 

Miranda spent the next two hours showing everything to Donna and writing several cheat sheets on how to use certain programs. She saved all of them to the desktop for ease of access and locked them as read-only so Donna couldn't accidentally delete them or alter them. 

Miranda loved Donna dearly but she knew that she was a computer jinx and she would do whatever possible to keep Donna from reducing Miranda's loyal -- and unsuspecting -- Macbook to rubble in her absence. 

Donna kissed Miranda's temple, "let's spend time with the girls." 

By the time ten rolled around both the twins and Donna were ready for bed. Miranda was feeling restless and decided to take a walk around the hotel. She found Nigel standing on the landing looking out over the idyllic island scene. He turned upon hearing the tell-tale sound of heels clicking against stone. 

He blew out a puff of smoke and looked guiltily down at the cigarette in his hand. "You caught me."

Miranda shrugged and joined him at the rail. "I'm not your mother." 

"Thank god," Nigel laughed, "if my mother knew all things about me that you know, she'd drag me to a seminary." 

"Don't you mean a nunnery?" Miranda quirked an eyebrow teasingly. 

"Touche, madame." Nigel took another long drag on the cigarette. "I quit so many years ago because I was afraid for my health. I figure why deny myself now, you know?"

"Nigel, stop." Miranda growled. She leaned against the rail and hung her head for a moment, " _stop_. You've been admitted into a trial. That's hopeful." 

"Miranda," he shook his head, "I have a 50/50 chance of being on the placebo. I have no idea what the side effects could be and there's no guarantee at all that the real deal will do me any good." 

He looked up at Miranda and saw that tears were sliding down her cheeks. "Buck up, Priestly. I'm going to have to tell the tabloids that you've gone soft." 

"Shut up." Miranda wiped at her eyes. "Just because you don't work for me anymore doesn't mean I can't make you rue the day you were born."

"Yeah, yeah." He pulled out his handkerchief, "you look real tough with your mascara running down your face." She closed her eyes as he gently wiped the smeared mascara from her cheekbones. 

She let out a soft whimper. Nigel leaned into her and kissed her forehead before drawing her against him. She let out a strangled sob and punched him in the arm.

"Ow!" Nigel protested. "What did you do that for?" 

"I'm angry!" She yelled, "I'm angry as hell and don't tell me I don't have a right to be!" 

"Angry at me?" He furrowed his brow. "For asking you to go back to New York?"

"No. I'm... I'm..." Miranda deflated a little, searching for words, searching for a reason. "I'm just angry that this happened to you. I want you to sue the shit out of that hospital."

"Whoa, whoa." Nigel's eyes widened at her language choice, "Miranda."

"I'm serious. They can't just give someone an hiv positive blood transfusion and get away with it!" 

"They _are_ being sued. Every which way but up. The suit has almost two hundred defendants. They have a long history of bad medical practices. They have plenty to go on without me. I'm opting not to be part of the lawsuit so that I don't take any of the settlement money away from the people who need it. I'm very well off financially." 

Miranda looked unconvinced. She shook her head, "you deserve justice."

"Justice will come for me in the form of a court verdict." He said softly, "no settlement can fix what happened. My receiving money isn't justice, it's vengeance. They're going to be punished and that's enough for me." 

"You're so much more level headed than I am." Miranda said with empty scorn. "I want you to be angry!"

"I was angry." He snapped, "but I don't want to waste my energy on being angry at something that I can't control. I don't want to waste any more of my time than I have already." 

Day Seven

When Miranda woke up that morning she heard the shower running. She got up and shed the few clothes that she was still wearing. She sauntered into the bathroom and knocked on the tile next to the shower, "knock, knock." 

"Hey, you're awake." Donna smiled at her, "what time did you get in last night?" 

"Not very late." Miranda said, slipping into the shower behind Donna, she kissed her neck. Donna moaned softly. "You should've woken me."

"I wanted to let you sleep," Donna turned in Miranda's arms and pressed her wet body against her lover's. "I haven't been awake long, anyway." 

"Doesn't matter," Miranda whispered, dragging her teeth along Donna's shoulder, "there's still lost time to make up for." Miranda's fingers teased the blond pubic hair between Donna's legs.

Donna moaned but pulled Miranda's hand away, "this morning is about you," she lowered to her knees and coaxed Miranda to lift her leg and put it over Donna's shoulder for leverage. "I haven't tasted you in so long." 

Miranda grinned and put her hand on Donna's other shoulder, squeezing gently, "no arguments from me." 

Donna's tongue ran up Miranda's inner thigh toward the triangle of light brown pubic hair. Donna loved seeing Miranda naked, she loved her brown pubic hair in contrast with the white hair on her head. Though Miranda insisted that the carpet had never really matched the drapes even when they were both au naturel. 

Miranda loved watching Donna between her legs. She tightened her hold on her with her calf, pulling her closer to her pussy, "please." She whispered. 

Donna grinned and ran her tongue along Miranda's outer lips. Miranda moaned and her eyes threatened to close but she forced them to stay open to watch Donna enjoying herself. Donna's tongue circled Miranda's clit, knowing full well that she was driving the older woman crazy. 

Miranda thrust her hips gently forward, mindful not to crack Donna in the nose with her pubic bone -- again. Donna dragged the blade of her tongue against the sensitive clit. Miranda whimpered shakily. Donna lapped at her greedily, suddenly overcome with the realization that she had no idea how long she'd go before being able to see Miranda again. 

"God, Donna..." Miranda breathed. She moaned throatily when Donna's tongue swirled circles over Miranda's clit. 

Before long Miranda was writhing and whimpering, putty in Donna's hands. An orgasm rocked through her and she was thankful for the support of the shower wall. Donna's movements didn't cease after Miranda's climax and Miranda whimpered, "oh my god, Donna," she moaned. "I'm done... ohhh..." 

Donna pulled her mouth away from her and looked up at her. Miranda smiled down at her before Donna pushed three fingers into her. Miranda cried out, rolling her hips against Donna's fingers, "fuck..." 

Donna kept her eyes on her, grinning as she watched Miranda convulse with pleasure. It wasn't until Miranda's core pulsed with what must have been her third orgasm that Donna pulled out. 

When Donna let her leg down, Miranda sank to the floor of the shower. "Dear Lord." Miranda breathed. "I'm going to walk funny for a week." 

"A little going away present." Donna laid her forehead against Miranda's. Miranda cupped her cheeks, pulling her in for desperate kisses. 

**

"Do you have your passport?" Andy asked zipping her suitcase shut.

Emily sneered at her, "yes, _mom_." Emily was busy trying to force her suitcase shut, to no avail. "Hey," she wiped her brow, "how about putting your fat ass up here to help close this thing?" 

"Shove it up your ass, Emily." Andy pulled her suitcase off the bed. "I'll meet you at the dock."

"Hey, come on." Emily protested incredulously, "I can't close my suitcase."

"Tough shit." Andy slammed the door behind her. 

Emily grunted in frustration, pounding her fists against the suitcase, desperately trying to close it, "fucking hell. Fuck, fuck, fuck! Andy Sachs, you're a son of a whore!" 

Nigel appeared in the doorway, "my, my, my. Emily Charlton, you have quite a mouth on you."

Emily narrowed her eyes, "either give me a hand or get the fuck away from me. I'm not in any mood to be mocked." 

Nigel pushed his suitcase toward her, "put some in my bag. I'm getting on a different plane but you can move some into Andy's or Miranda's at the airport."

Emily sighed. "Thank you, Nigel." She rooted around in her suitcase and pulled out a couple of packages and tucked them in Nigel's, allowing hers to close easily. 

"You're welcome."

"Nigel, I'm sorry..." 

"Hey, I'm not dead yet. Don't start eulogizing me." Nigel nudged her, Emily furrowed her brow, "you know, we may not always agree on everything, but I enjoy working with you." 

"It's been fun." Emily smiled a little, "I'm pretty mad at you for sidling me with Miranda. We were finally out from under her and you threw it all away."

"It's only for six months," he laughed.

"I'll be marking off the days, believe me." 

**

Donna and Sophie rode with the group to the mainland. Once inside the airport, Sophie stopped before the checkpoint. Donna submitted herself to searching so she could go further with Miranda. 

Miranda and Donna were holding hands while they waited for the plane. Cassidy walked up to Miranda, "mom. Can we talk?"

"What is it, Cass?" Miranda asked innocently, though she was sure she could guess what was vexing her A twin.

"My plane ticket said London, England but when I went to check in they told me that I was moved to a flight to New York. I can't just fly back to New York! All my stuff is in London!" 

"Do you have a flatmate?"

"...yes."

"We'll have your things mailed to you." Miranda replied calmly as Cassidy looked prepared to go off like a rocket. 

Cassidy stalked off mumbling. Miranda knew that she should be prepared for a counterattack. Miranda looked around the terminal. There was Donna, who she'd have to leave behind in the airport, Nigel, who she'd have to leave behind at another gate, and Caroline, who was taking another plane once they connected in Paris. She'd already left Sophie outside the airport, Miranda had grown to think of herself as a mother figure for Sophie, as much as Donna had felt the same for her twins. 

She didn't even look back when she was on the ferry. Every time leaving Villa Donna was harder. This was no exception. The prospect of New York was only a small comfort. At least, she thought, I'm not being dumped in some remote place. 

An announcement came over the loud speaker, announcing for Miranda's flight to queue up. Miranda looked at Donna and her eyes filled with tears, but she managed to choke them down as she cupped Donna's face and kissed her. Donna wrapped her arms around Miranda and was less successful in hiding her tears. "I'm going to miss you so much." Donna whispered urgently.

"I'm going to miss you," Miranda breathed, kissing Donna again and again, "I love you."

"I love _you_."

"Sickening, isn't it?" Andy whispered playfully to Nigel.

Nigel smiled, then sighed. "Laugh all you want, Six. I wish I had half of what they had."

Andy sighed and nodded, "me too." 

"Where's your..." he caught Andy's eye, "ball and chain?"

"She boarded already." Andy rolled her eyes. She picked up her suitcase which now weighed an extra ten pounds thanks to Emily's overflow. She grunted as she hauled it over her shoulder, "why couldn't you have told her to mail it home?"

Nigel laughed, "my dear, sweet, long suffering Andrea." Nigel kissed her forehead, "I'll miss you."

"Oh," Andy looked sad, "I'm going to miss you, too." She hugged him tightly, "come back soon."

"I'll do my best, kiddo." Nigel hugged her back, setting his chin on her shoulder. He cast his eyes upward and caught Miranda's eye. 

Nigel pulled back from Andy, "you have to board now."

"Yeah." Andy said softly. She leaned up and kissed his cheek once more before silently boarding.

"This is it." Donna whispered. 

"It is." Miranda nodded, kissing her again, "I'll visit. This isn't goodbye."

"I know. It's see you soon." Donna smiled weakly. 

"See you soon." Miranda whispered, barely audibly. She reluctantly let go of Donna and turned towards the gate. She looked at Nigel and, impulsively, hugged him again. "See _you_ soon, too." 

Nigel closed his eyes, a tear falling down his face, he rubbed her back and nodded, not trusting himself to speak.

**

Almost a day later, Miranda's key slid into the townhouse's lock, the tumblers clicked as she turned it and gave away as she pushed. The door opened easily and Miranda peered in as if she were gazing nervously into a haunted house. 

_I'm standing on the stoop of my own house._ She told herself, _this is precisely the sort of reason you didn't sell it. So that the girls and I could stay here when the need arose._

The need had certainly arisen. 

Miranda was getting bored of her own reluctance and stepped into the house, closing the door behind with force. Just as she expected to hear it click into place in the door frame she heard it stopped by something else along with a protested, "whoa." 

She whipped around and furrowed her brow when her eyes fell on Lucas.


	6. Chapter 6

Miranda groaned. "I just got back. This honestly can't wait?" She dropped her suitcases with disgust to further illustrate her irritation. 

"I thought you had Cassidy with you." 

She sighed, if nothing else, the man cared deeply for his children. "She went to a friend's house. She'll be back a little later. Pray tell, how did you hear of her return to New York?"

"She e-mailed me."

Miranda nodded, "of course she did." Miranda gathered her valises into her arms again with resignation. "Go on into the sitting room, I'll be right in."

She watched him go into the sitting room before mounting the steps. She used to think that a fourth floor bedroom was a horrible inconvenience. After Villa Donna, a fourth floor bedroom was a godsend. Miranda set the suitcases at the foot of her bed and decided not to wallow just yet.

When she entered the sitting room, Lucas stood up. "I'd offer you coffee," she said, taking a seat on the chaise, "but I haven't gone grocery shopping yet." 

"You mean you haven't sent your assistant grocery shopping yet?" He questioned.

Miranda laughed a little, "I don't have an assistant anymore."

Lucas tried to decide if she was kidding or not. He studied her face for a few long moments before he opened his mouth, "you're serious?"

Miranda nodded. "Lucas, please, we need to talk."

"I remember the last time you said those words to me." He crossed his legs, "we were here in this room. The furniture was different and neither of us had white hair." He ran his fingers through his own ivory hair with a small smile. 

"Don't reminisce about our divorce." Miranda said without amusement. "Aren't you happy with Yvonne?"

He watched her for a moment. Miranda wished that he'd stop doing that and just speak, "she divorced me in January. The girls didn't tell you? You didn't hear?"

"I'm a little bit out of the loop these days." 

Lucas grinned, "on your little island." 

"I'm sorry, if that means anything to you." Miranda shrugged.

He nodded, "it does. It means a lot."

Miranda scoffed a little, "well, welcome to the club of multiple divorcées, just the same."

"That sounds like a toast."

"Well," Miranda smirked, "if you'd had the foresight to bring the alcohol we could be toasting right now. Just as well, I need to talk about the girls."

"So, you're happy with Donna?" 

"Don't change the subject."

"It's just a simple question." 

She narrowed her eyes at him, "it's not a simple question. It's a loaded question."

Lucas held up his hands submissively, "you should have been the lawyer. You have more of a talent for it than I do." He shook his head, "it's just a question. I just want to know that you're happy."

"Yes. I am." Miranda said simply. "Now. The girls."

"Yes, alright." He sat forward, "so, Cassidy gave me a few details. She dropped out of school?"

Miranda snorted an incredulous laugh, "oh that manipulative little child. No. She did not _drop out_ of school. She was politely asked not to return for reasons pertaining to her abysmal academic transcript." 

Lucas was stunned. "You're kidding! You never called me to tell me?"

"I didn't know until a couple of days ago, myself." She admitted, "the school sent me back my tuition check. Cassidy's just been living in London since Christmas. Not working." 

He leaned back in his chair to take it all in. "She didn't tell you herself?"

"No."

"Well..." he ran his hand through his hair again, still trying to take it in. "What's her course of action?"

"She doesn't have one." Miranda's contempt for that decision was evident in her tone. "So, I'm cutting off her trust fund until she does something with her life. I refuse to support her financially if she's not even going to take any interest in her own well-being."

Lucas nodded, "I think that's a good idea. I'll do the same. Consider her cut off." 

Now it was Miranda's turn to stare at him in confusion. "You think I'm right?"

"Absolutely. To be honest, I thought you were right a lot of the times I said you were wrong. It was mostly misplaced hostility." 

Miranda huffed. 

"But in any case, I think you're right. She should go back to school or get a job-"

" _She should go back to school_." Miranda interrupted him. 

"Miranda, come on. Coming from you that's going to sound like hypocrisy." He reasoned, "she knows you didn't go back to university. She's not stupid. We have to give her the options. The trick is that they're both options that we've picked. I'm certain that she'll get a job. She'll hate it and she'll go back to university." 

Miranda contemplated what he'd said for a moment. "What if she doesn't go back?"

"Why wouldn't she?"

"I didn't. If she's taking my example to heart so deeply, why would she go back?" Miranda asked, "I think she'll coast by on being _our_ daughter, get some cushy office job that requires two brain cells and she'll basically end up where she was. I think that given the choice, she won't go back to school."

"You may be right, Miranda." He acquiesced. "Regardless, it _is_ her decision. Legally, she's an adult." 

Miranda pouted. "Unfortunately." 

Lucas laughed. "When they were young, you couldn't wait for them to grow up."

"So I could _relate_ to them, not so they could _defy_ me." 

Lucas laughed, "you have a sense of humor, Miranda, don't let anybody tell you different." 

"Who says different?" Miranda pursed her lips.

"Well... just about everybody." 

Miranda shrugged, "c'est la vie." She crossed her legs and looked down at her shoes. "We need to talk about Caroline, too."

"You're kidding. She's not expelled, too, is she?" Lucas's eyes were wide.

"No, she's-"

"Is she in debt to a loan shark?"

"What? _No_ , she's-"

"She's not pregnant, is she?"

"Lucas!" She snapped, remembering the resolution she'd made at the end of their marriage to never yell again unless in imminent physical peril. She glared at him. "Would you let me finish a sentence?"

"I'm having a strong sense of deja vu right now." Lucas quirked a small smile.

"I'm having such a strong sense of it, I'm feeling that migraine I had from 1994 to 1996." Miranda rubbed her temple. She waited a moment to make sure that Lucas had gotten his interrupting routine out of his system before she continued, "she wants to go to Iraq." 

"No, seriously." 

"She wants to go to Iraq." Miranda repeated, "she wants to do field reporting there."

"I think I'd rather she was pregnant." Lucas said in a daze. 

Miranda explained about the internship and how determined she was to go whether it be next year or the one after that. She told him how she had reacted and how she'd refused to give her the internship at Runway. She also explained what Andy had said and admitted that she thought it was a good point. 

"Geez, Miranda." He blew out a breath. "Drop all this on me at once, why don't you?"

"I have no sympathy for you." Miranda scoffed, "they both dropped it on me last week."

"Yeah, but they spaced it out, right?"

Miranda shrugged, "it wasn't the only thing that was dropped into my lap last week. I wish I only had to worry about the girls." 

"What else-?"

It was her turn to interrupt him, "none of your business." They were silent for a moment. It felt uncomfortably like their marriage. "I think we should both do a little research into the program and then reconvene and talk about it again."

"Alright." He nodded, standing. On their way out to the foyer he added, "after this conversation I feel like I could use a stiff drink. Want to join me?"

Miranda shook her head, "I'm jet lagged. I'm going to go right to bed." 

"Fair enough." He offered her a smile and opened the door. They were both stunned to see Stephen on the other side of it. 

He smiled awkwardly at them. 

"Have I died and gone to hell?" Miranda put a hand on her hip, "all I need is Todd and it's a full house." 

"I just had to see for myself." Stephen was awed. "I heard you were back but... wow... you're back." 

"Apparently so." Miranda was not about to invite him in. "Now that you've seen me there must be somewhere better for you to be. Lucas is going for a drink, you could join him."

Stephen stepped closer to Miranda. Miranda glared and pursed her lips. "I've been thinking about you a lot lately. Since you retired and disappeared."

Miranda shot Lucas a sneer, hearing his muffled snickering. 

"I... you look really beautiful, Miranda. I didn't expect..." he looked her up and down and her eyes widened in disgust. "I'd love to buy you dinner some time." 

Lucas could no longer control his laughter. Miranda grit her teeth and said, "Stephen, even if I had lost all of my self-respect, I wouldn't accept that invitation." 

"She's spoken for, sorry Steve." Lucas was nearly doubled over with laughter. 

"You're back with Lucas?" Stephen was incredulous enough to ignore Lucas's use of the hated nickname. "But you said he was lousy in the sack!"

Miranda's eyes widened. Lucas stopped laughing and pouted. He turned to her, "you think I'm bad in bed?"

Miranda had all she could take of that conversation and turned and went inside, closing and locking the door behind her. "No more ex-husbands. No more." She ascended the stairs again, pulling out her blackberry as she went. The phone had to ring only twice before it was picked up.

"Hello, Villa Donna."

Miranda smiled peacefully, "hi. I just needed to hear your voice."

**

Miranda hadn't anticipated it being so difficult to get up for work. She felt like a child who'd just ended summer vacation. She got out of bed and went through the routine of showering and dressing. She knocked on Cassidy's door. She opened it, not expecting her to be awake. Miranda sat on the edge of the bed and kissed Cassidy's forehead.

Cassidy stirred and yawned, "what time is it?" She mumbled sleepily.

"It's early. You don't have to get up yet." Miranda soothed, stroking her hair, "I just wanted to tell you that I'll be home at six and I'm looking forward to eating dinner with you again." 

Cassidy yawned, "kay." 

Miranda had to stifle her own yawn as she kissed her daughter's forehead one more time before going about the rest of her morning routine. She stepped out into the cold air and recoiled. She almost made the decision to go back inside for another hour but was deterred when her driver pulled up to the curb and got out to open her door.

She slipped her sunglasses on. It was going to be a long morning. Fuck that, it was going to be a long six months. 

**

The usual parting of the red clacker sea was colored with shock and awe. The clackers who'd known her stared in surprise to see the elusive fashionista freshly returned from god knows where. The new clackers who knew her only as the legend stood prepared to worship at her feet should the need arise. 

Not a single person was on the elevator, it was as if the entire world had stopped. When her elevator reached Runway, she pulled the glasses off and looked nostalgically out into the offices. The familiar chaos of her arrival was no comfort. She had truly come to value other things. 

Emily stood in the atrium to welcome her back into the depths of the magazine. Emily handed Miranda a clipboard and took her bag, "this is the schedule for today." She explained, "we have a Holt run through today at noon." 

"So the schedule says." Miranda pursed her lips, skimming over the schedule. "Move it to ten." 

Emily stopped. Miranda turned to look at her questioningly. "That's not how we do it anymore, Miranda. We make the schedule and we pretty much try to stick to it." 

"People get lazy when there are no surprises. People sink into a comfortable routine, they got soft, they make mistakes. Human beings require stimulation of the senses." Miranda chastised, her blue eyes piercing into Emily's. "Move the run through."

"Yes, Miranda." Emily said, conceding defeat. She stopped short in the outer office as Miranda continued on. 

Miranda halted when she reached the glass doors of the room she'd spent the better part of her career in. Cautiously, she took the handle in her hand and pulled it open. The pictures on the wall, the two black and whites of her daughters, were missing, but other than that the room was exactly the same. The desk was the same, the flower painting given to her so many years before by Christian Lacroix was still hanging in its place of honor behind the desk as the first thing an entrant would see. The desk was the same simple glass desk. Her mirror, a Christmas gift from Vera Wang, was on the adjoining wall. 

Everything was the same.

Miranda turned, Emily was right behind her again. "The office. It's the same. You never redecorated?"

" _You_ didn't. The office was the same for six years." Emily reasoned, "it seemed almost sacrilege to change it."

Miranda sighed with annoyance. "Emily."

"We don't do a lot of work here, anyway." Emily explained, "we do a lot of work on location and... at home."

Miranda looked up at that last remark with scorn but remained silent.

"We couldn't share an office. We fought too much." Emily went on, feeling as though she were digging a hole. "We certainly couldn't share _your_ office."

"It's not _my_ office anymore." Miranda intoned even as she took her seat behind the desk, settling in comfortably. "It's yours." 

Emily nodded as she looked on. "I have the most recent book here. If you'd like to see it?"

"I want to meet the new art director. The layout is hideous." Miranda pursed her lips, flipping through the pages of the issue on the desk. "A hire of yours?" 

"Irv hired him actually." 

Miranda scoffed, "I see. A cheap new hire who knows absolutely nothing about art." She tossed the magazine down, "it's my guess the whole magazine is now riddled with these subpar employees? Get me a list of all the recent hires. That's all." 

"Yes, Miranda." Emily nodded, turning and leaving the office.

Miranda watched her go. She had a horrible feeling of deja vu, the second in less than 24 hours. She sat back in the chair, half expecting Nigel to walk through the door. The office was the same but the important things were wrong. She'd panicked the first time she almost lost him. In 2006, when she'd lost Andrea, she hadn't realized that what she fought so hard to keep wasn't so much her job, but it was her family. 

Nigel, Emily, Andrea. She loved them all. How ironic that she be ascribed heartless by the press when she knew that she had so much love inside her. 

She thought then of Donna. The one person in her life that had always seen her goodness, who had never doubted her for even a second. How she missed her already. 

Miranda shook her head and slid her glasses onto her face. She took the schedule and started moving things around, there was no rhyme nor reason to Emily's scheduling and Miranda aimed to fix that. 

"Emily!" She called out when she was done only to realize that there was no one at the desks in the outer offices. She dialed Emily from her Blackberry only to be met with an automated recording telling her that Emily was unreachable. 

She sighed with annoyance and walked out to the second assistant's desk. She started to scroll through the phone's contacts and finally found one that she recognized. She dialed and waited. 

"This is Serena Beauchamp." 

**

Emily graced the office with her presence in an hour and a half. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Serena standing at the desk with Miranda. Serena had been promoted to international liaison around the time when she'd broken up with Emily. As far as Emily knew, this was the first time she'd been back at Runway since, because she had an office in a completely separate building on a completely different street.

Emily almost decided to turn around and leave when Miranda looked up and caught her eye, beckoning her into the room. 

Emily took a deep, calming, breath and entered the office. "What's up?" She systematically avoided looking at Serena even though she could feel her eyes boring into her. 

"I needed an assistant." Miranda replied quietly, looking over the plans for the next issue's main photo shoot, obviously oblivious to the implication for Emily of inviting Serena into the office. 

"I see." 

"And I was more than happy to help." Serena quirked an eyebrow at Emily. 

"I'm so glad that you were available, but I wouldn't want to keep you from your _actual_ job." Emily looked to Miranda, "I'll hire you your own assistant." 

"Actually, I have a bit of a lull right now. I'd like to be here for a while." 

"I'm sure that Miranda-" Emily started.

Miranda cut her off, "I'd prefer Serena." She said curtly. "She knows how things ran when I was editor and that's what I need." 

"I'll get you an assistant who you can mold and meld however you want." Emily was beginning to feel desperate. 

"In due time." Miranda was annoyed by Emily's blathering. 

"Is there a problem?"Serena asked softly, raking her eyes over Emily.

"No, of course not." Emily shook her head, giving up, "I can't even imagine why there'd be a problem. I just wouldn't want to take Serena away from anything, but whatever."

"I'm on call." 

"I'm sure you are." Emily suppressed a sneer. She looked down, "so, I have a meeting with the photographer for-"

"The photo shoot tomorrow? No, you don't." Miranda said softly, looking down at the preliminary sketches. "This was pathetic."

"We've already... spent... so much..." Emily was nearly speechless. 

"And you should count yourself lucky that you didn't go through with shooting it." Miranda narrowed her eyes, daring Emily to contradict her. "Now, I can appreciate that the photo shoot needs to take place as soon as possible to make it into the issue, so I'm making some preliminary notes before we get the art team together." 

"Great." Emily tried to smile. "May I?" She held out her hand for the layout.

Miranda scowled but handed it over, aware that her return to Runway wasn't as _editor_ but as _co-_ editor. She would have to deal with all that meant. 

Emily looked the paper over and was struck by the elegance of it, not the shoot itself, but the drawing, the talent for composition, the skill and swiftness with which it had been executed. She nodded, "it looks good. I see you've utilized a lot of the same things?"

"Yes." Miranda nodded, "the idea was there but it hadn't been eked out yet." 

**

After berating the art staff Miranda had felt as if she'd returned to full form. She felt that perhaps her return to New York and to Runway wasn't as futile an effort as she'd originally thought. The photo shoot would take place in the park at dawn, she'd given Serena the task of acquiring all the permits while Emily went to the closet to talk the lackeys through the changes in wardrobe. 

Miranda felt herself starting to think about Nigel again so she picked up her Blackberry and dialed Andy. "Andrea," she said, after the journalist picked up her phone, "let's do lunch at noon."

"Noon... yeah, I have a 11:00 meeting, but I'm sure I can do lunch at noon. Where do you want to eat?" 

"Delicatessen on fifth." 

Andy laughed, "Miranda, I'm sorry... that's deli's been a McDonald's since March. We could meet there and figure out where else we wanted to go."

"Fine." Miranda pursed her lips, feeling annoyance that so many things had changed while so many things had remained deceptively the same.

"So, how's your morning going? Oh, hold on, my other line's beeping. It might be my editor, I'll be right back." She switched over and answered, "hello, Andy Sachs." 

"It's true, isn't it? Miranda Priestly's back in New York?" Christian grinned on the other end.

"I'm not at liberty to discuss that. Get your scoop from elsewhere."

Christian laughed, "I'm not looking for a scoop. It's not my department, I don't care. But all the tabloids are abuzz, you haven't noticed?"

"I've been on location all morning." Andy admitted.

"There's a million dollar payout for the first paparazzi who gets a picture of Miranda back in New York." Christian explained, "if she's feeling playful, she could probably dodge them all day. That would be funny."

"I have to go, Christian, I have someone on the other line, I'll call you soon."

"Someone who doesn't like to be kept waiting? Someone Miranda Priestly?" There was only silence on the other end. "Andy? Hello?"


	7. Chapter 7

Miranda's arrival at the run through caused a similar reaction to her arrival at Elias Clark. She sat on James Holt's couch with Emily on one side and Serena on the other, the rest of her entourage filling out the remaining seating. James Holt stepped in front of the group and when his eyes fell on Miranda his eyes widened. 

"Miranda!" He cried instinctively, though he tried to cover it up, "you're back. We should do dinner some time." 

"The run through." Miranda said softly. 

"Uh, right. Well, this collection is, uh, about the fusion of the senses. I-I used a variety of different materials to make the clothing as pleasant to the touch as to the-the eye. But I think that the collection speaks for itself."

"Good." Miranda watched him without amusement, "since you clearly can't." 

He cleared his throat and stepped back so the models could show off his designs. The collection, on a whole, wasn't bad. Miranda gave it an unenthusiastic nod, letting him know that there was more to work on before getting up. 

"Serena, get me scarves and belts from Calvin Klein, get me a meeting with Demarchelier and one with Donatella. Get me information about colleges and universities in the area. That's all."

"Yes, Miranda." 

James Holt caught Emily on her way out. "Hey, it would've been a basic courtesy to tell me that Miranda would be here."

Emily furrowed her brow at him, "I did."

"No, you told me that Miranda said that people get lazy when there are no surprises." 

"Yeah..."

"That does not imply that Miranda's with you. She could say things to you over the phone from across the world, you could be quoting something that she said years ago. Next time an, 'oh by the way, Miranda's coming to the run through,' would be a good thing to add."

Emily was in no mood to be trifled with. "How's this for a heads up? Miranda will be coming to every run through for the next six months."

"What?" James Holt demanded. "Why?" 

"Because Nigel... he's taking an extended holiday."

"He hasn't been returning my calls, does that have something to do with his extended holiday?"

"I don't know!" Emily snapped, "we're not that close, I don't know. You'll have to take it up with him yourself."

"I would if he ever picked up the phone."

"It is not my problem. Trust me, I have plenty." Emily snarled, seeing Serena out of the corner of her eye.

**

Miranda and Andy were settled into a booth at a restaurant that Miranda had frequented. They were happy to help ensure her privacy. Miranda sipped her red wine as she awaited her steak. 

Andy watched her with amusement, "how was your morning?"

"I'm going to have to do a complete overhaul." Miranda shook her head, "I don't blame Emily or Nigel. It's Irv, of course, as soon as I left he used their naivete against them. He made bad decisions and I have a responsibility to right them." 

"So, Emily told me that she and Nigel did away with the assistants. How are you coping with that?"

"I called Serena." Miranda said as their lunches were placed in front of them.

Andy thanked the waiter for the food and waited until he'd cleared off to address Miranda again. "Serena Beauchamp?" Miranda nodded, taking her first bite of steak, oblivious to Andy's surprise, "you called her to do what? Call someone else to assist you?"

"Serena assisted me. Actually," Miranda stopped to eat another bite of steak. "You really should try the steak. Donna is a wonderful cook but this steak... there's nothing like it." 

"'Actually' what, Miranda?" Andy was not to be distracted. 

"Serena's going to be assisting me for a while. I'll hire an assistant eventually, but I want someone who's familiar with my system until I get settled in."

Andy nodded, it made enough sense. "You know that Serena's Emily's ex, right?"

Miranda looked up and furrowed her brow, "oh. Right." 

Andy laughed a little, "she broke her heart. It might be a little hard on her to have her around." 

"Please use names if you're going to bandy pronouns about so freely." Miranda smirked but shrugged, "Emily herself said that she does a lot of work on location, the two will have almost no occasion to see each other. Emily could easily avoid her if she wanted to." 

**

Emily walked to the desk at which Serena sat. Serena looked up at her over her glasses. She bit her lip on a grin. "Is there something I can help you with?" 

"I don't like that you're here." Emily admitted, "I told you that I never wanted to see you again three years ago and nothing has happened to change that."

"Hey, she called me." Serena leaned back in her chair. "I only volunteered to help out because I hold Miranda in very high regard. My presence here has nothing to do with you, though your over inflated ego thinks otherwise?" 

Emily shook her head, "I don't think anything. I just don't want you here."

"You, of all people, know that putting in your dues with Miranda is always good for your career. She called me and I don't intend to look the gift horse in the mouth." 

**

On the ride back from lunch Miranda's cell phone rang. She answered it, "just waking up?"

"No," Cassidy pouted on the other end, "but I think there's something wrong with my bank account. I just checked it and it's down to like $300. Do you think someone hacked me?" 

Miranda bit her lip. Lucas had clearly also withdrawn his contribution to her funds. "I'll look into it, sweetie." Miranda hated lying to her daughter but she didn't want her to freak out until she could be there to calm her down. "I'll be home at six, alright?"

"Okay." Cassidy paused, "love you."

"I love you, too, baby." Miranda ended the call and blew out a breath of relief. 

"Everything alright, Ms. Priestly?" The driver, Ron, peered at her from the rear view mirror. 

"Do you have children?" She asked, slipping the blackberry into her pocket.

"I do." He confirmed. 

"Then I'm sure you can imagine my problem." Miranda crossed her legs and leaned back, looking out the window at the the tall city buildings. 

When the car pulled up to the curb, Ron leapt up to open the door for her. As soon as one high heel hit the curb, she was ambushed by a flock of paparazzi. The driver stepped in front of her protectively and she slipped back into the car, the door slamming shut behind her. 

"Oh, for heaven's sake." She sighed impatiently. 

Ten minutes later the police arrived and forced the paparazzi to vacate the premises. Miranda got out of the car, opening her own door and returning to the office five minutes after that. 

Serena was sitting in the office looking over proofs when Miranda reentered. "What was all the commotion?"

"Just the general idiocy that comprises most of this city." Miranda picked up the magnifying glass, stooping to examine the photos. "These could be worse. I'd like to see the ones at dawn before any final decisions are made."

**

By the time Miranda got to the townhouse, the paparazzi had more than successfully taken her picture. She thought, at least, that would be that. Perhaps they'd be satisfied now that they had their proof that the bitch was back. Her keys clanged into the bowl and Cassidy called out to her. 

"Mom, you're all over the internet!" Cassidy laughed, carrying her laptop down the stairs, "look, all the tabloids have variations on this one shot, I bet you could get them all and make a perfect 3-D model of your head." 

"Oh, yes." Miranda said ironically, slipping her Valentino blazer into the closet, "that sounds like a fantastic use of time."

"Bad day?"

Miranda sighed, "long day. One that I fear is only going to get longer." 

"What's that mean?" Cassidy asked with concern.

Miranda set the bag with university brochures on the table with the flowers. "Can we eat first?"

"No." Cassidy shook her head, "your reluctance to answer is unnerving and I would really much prefer to have this conversation now. Is it about my bank account?"

"Yes." Miranda nodded curtly, "yes. Your father and I have cut you off."

Cassidy's face fell and she watched her mother with alarm and concern. "Are you kidding me?"

"Your father and I feel that you have not proven yourself to be responsible. We believe that you feel entitled to having money and not at all responsible for making good use of it. I'm sorry to tell you, my dear, but just because your father and I make a lot of money, does not entitle you to squander it." 

" _Squander it_?" 

"You heard me." Miranda confirmed, " _you're_ not rich, you need to stop living like you have unlimited resources. You should either go back to school, which I _will_ pay for or you have to get a job. Your father agrees with me." 

"Bullshit!" Cassidy cried, "I mean, what the fuck? This is the one thing you decide to agree on?"

"You have to support yourself, Cassidy." 

"Mom..." she struggled to find the words, "if I get a job I'll never have time to play lacrosse. This is unfair!" 

"This is life. You took the opportunity to go to university for granted and you have to deal with those consequences." Miranda said coolly, "you should go back to university. You'd be foolish not to."

"Oh, here we go." Cassidy rolled her eyes, "that's just great, listen to you! Do you hear yourself? _You_ didn't go back! You got expelled!"

"It was a completely different time back then. A university degree wasn't a necessity in the workforce the way it is now. It wasn't my _choice_ not to go back." 

"Oh, _bullshit_." Cassidy glared at Miranda, "you are so full of shit." 

"You might be eighteen, but I'm still your mother and you owe me a little respect." 

Cassidy went to the hall closet and grabbed her jacket. 

"Where are you going?" Miranda furrowed her brow. 

"To Dad's!" She snarled as she slammed the door shut behind her.

Miranda sighed heavily. At least she was sure that Lucas would back her up this time. _If he can stay strong in the face of the tears..._ Miranda thought. 

**

"And then I was like 'how would you like it if I chose _Stephen_ as an assistant?'" Emily said, pacing the room. 

Andy looked up at her in surprise, "wow, you really said that to her?"

Emily took a sip of the wine and swallowed it, turning to look at Andy. "Well... no. But I thought it real hard and if Miranda asks me what I think, boy, am I going to let her have it!"

Andy scoffed, "no, you're not. You're going to tuck your tail between your legs and come running home." 

"Of course, I am." Emily scowled, "can't you just say something to make me feel better? Can't you for once be on my side?" 

"I am on your side."

"No, you're not. You're on Miranda's. You're always on Miranda's. You like her better, I'm a Miranda surrogate. She's taken so I'm the next best thing."

"First of all, I do not wish I was with Miranda," Andy drawled, "and second of all, you are _not_ the next best thing."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Emily glared. 

"You ain't no Miranda Priestly." 

"God, you are so in love with her and you don't see it." Emily shook her head, "it's really sad."

**

A week later everything had settled into an odd, but comfortable, routine. Cassidy had returned to the the townhouse, claiming that her father was boring and over protective. Emily had stopped acting like an assistant and started to assert her position, Miranda had been happy enough because Emily took some of the more menial tasks of the job while Miranda kept the more artistic aspects to herself. Half of the new staff had been evaluated and fired and she and Serena were in the process of hiring more qualified personnel. 

On Saturday Miranda was considering taking a soothing bath and then getting ahold of Donna via Skype when the front doorbell rang. She opened the door to see her middle ex-husband standing on her stoop. He pulled a hand from his pocket and gave a little wave, "can I come in?" 

Miranda moved out of the way and Lucas entered. 

"Coffee?" Miranda asked, leading the way into the sitting room. 

"No thanks, I won't stay long." He tugged on the thighs of his pants to avoid stretching them and sat down on the chaise. "I just came for our follow up discussion about Caroline."

Miranda nodded, sitting on the plush chair on the other side of the room. "What did you decide?"

"What if we have conflicting decisions?"

"Why don't we deal with that if we come to it?" Miranda crossed her legs and leaned back. "So?"

"I think... well, I called and talked to her advisor and the man who runs the program. I think that... if it's something she wants so strongly and if it's something she'd only do next year anyway... you have my blessing to give her the internship at Runway."

Miranda sighed, but nodded, "that's the way I feel about it, too." She sighed again and rubbed her face, "I was hoping we'd disagree and you could be the bearer of bad news."

He laughed, "that would be fair. I let you play the bad guy a lot. Which is why I'll let you deliver the good news." 

"Funny, it doesn't feel like good news." Miranda admitted, "but I'll call her today; she'll be thrilled."

Lucas stood up and patted Miranda familiarly on the leg, "I guess I'm off." 

Miranda stood and watched Lucas awkwardly navigate the room. "Would you like to have dinner with us sometime?" She said, keeping back a sigh. 

His face lit up, "yeah. Absolutely, if you're okay with that."

"Why wouldn't I be?" Miranda had given up at that point, "we've been divorced for more than a decade. I think we can probably put it behind us, right?" 

Lucas smiled hugely, "thank you, Miranda. Tomorrow night?"

"Sure." Miranda nodded, ignoring the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

**

"Who's coming to dinner?" Cassidy raised an eyebrow at her mother as they stood in the kitchen.

Miranda was standing over the cookbook, she looked up at her daughter, "the answer is the same as it has been the last five times you asked me."

"I don't believe it." Cassidy shook her head, "no way, no how." 

Miranda sighed, "I'm ordering out. I can't deal with this." She slammed the cookbook shut. 

"Who's really coming over to dinner?" 

Miranda picked up the phone and dialed her favorite restaurant which, mercifully, was still in business. "Yes, I'd like three orders of Duck a l'Orange. Side of... green beans."

"Gross!" Cassidy protested. 

"Two with green beans and one with rice." Miranda listened and said, "for delivery. Miranda Priestly, you have my credit card and address on file? Good. That's all." 

"Is it Andy?" Cassidy asked once Miranda had hung up the phone. 

"It's your _father_ and I'm going go insane if you ask me one more time." Miranda was putting the unused cookbook back in the drawer from whence it came when the doorbell rang. "Would you get that?"

"Now I'm going to see who's really coming to dinner." Cassidy said to Miranda as if she were pulling one over on her. Miranda just rolled her eyes as Cassidy dashed to the front door. She opened it and stared at her father in shock. "Dad?"

"Hi sweetheart." He leaned in and kissed her cheek. He took in her expression, "didn't your mother tell you I was coming?"

"She did... but I didn't believe it." Cassidy stuttered, "you two hate each other. All of a sudden you're bff?"

He raised an eyebrow, "bff?"

"It's very confusing. You can't do that to children of divorce." 

"You're almost 19, Cassidy, I think you can cope." He laughed.

"I'm going to need at least three years of therapy, I'll have you know." Cassidy led him into the dining room. 

Miranda set a stack of three plates on the table. "I ordered out." She said, almost sheepishly, "I thought of cooking but I also thought of setting the kitchen on fire." 

"That's okay," he smiled, "I remember how you cook. I don't mind." 

Miranda shot him a quick glare but he smiled playfully and she decided to let him live. 

Two hours later the three of them were situated in the sitting room and Cassidy announced, "I'm going to go catch up with Monica. This is _way_ too domestic for me." She kissed each of her parents in turn before saluting, "goodnight, parents." 

"Hey, I brought you another surprise." Lucas said, standing and walking to the hall closet. Miranda waited with apprehension. He reappeared with a bottle of bourbon. "Your favorite. If memory serves." 

"You didn't have to do that." Miranda intoned, though her taste buds called out for the aged beverage.

"Cassidy's going to be living with you. She stayed with me for four days and I wanted to drink." He opened the liquor cabinet and set it in between the glasses. "And since you said you didn't have any..." 

"You really didn't have to do that." Miranda gave him a reserved smile, "but since you did, why don't you pour a couple glasses?"

Lucas grinned, "don't mind if I do." He poured a glass for each of them. 

Miranda swirled the caramel colored alcohol around in her glass as she savoured the first sip. "Thank you." 

Silently, they sipped for a few minutes. Miranda thought about how strange it felt to have Lucas in her home on a social visit. She did, however, feel that if she were going to attempt normal human friendship with one of her ex-husbands, she'd choose Lucas.

"Am I overstaying my welcome?" Lucas's voice broke through her ponderances. He sighed, "I just hate going home to an empty house." 

"I understand." Miranda nodded. It did not, however, mean she was good at making small talk. 

"Do you really think I'm bad in bed?" 

Miranda closed her eyes and wished she was somewhere else, when she opened her eyes to find she was in the same room as before, she sighed, "don't tell me you never told Yvette that she was better in bed than I was." 

"I didn't." Lucas looked offended, "and frankly, it would've been a lie." 

Miranda rubbed her eyes tiredly, "Lucas..."

"What? It's not a come on, I'm just saying that in the arena of sex... well, I'm jealous of Donna." Lucas said and added, "hell, I'm jealous of Donna for a lot of reasons. Someone's finally won your heart."

"I think it's been hers since the beginning." Miranda mused, "Donna talks a lot about fate and I really think there's something to it."

"You call it fate and I call it happenstance." 

"Really? Can you imagine all the things that had to happen in both of our lives to get us both to Las Vegas, I went to the bar because of the phone call with Caroline, she was in the bar because her friends lost track of her. One little thing having been different would have sent us hurtling in other directions." Miranda finished and watched Lucas for a reaction. 

"I don't know." He said finally, "I mean, I think it's a really nice, really romantic notion that everyone has a fated lover. I just don't think I can subscribe to that. What about me? I've been divorced twice." 

Miranda laughed, "I've been divorced three times. Some people just have to get it wrong for a while. I think that some people need for things to go so wrong that when they finally find what's right they can really feel the difference." 

"And you do? You feel the difference?"

Miranda nodded, "I feel it every day; every waking moment. Donna is my fate." 

"I guess I just feel so hopeless right now." Lucas admitted, "I feel like I blew my only two chances."

"Thank heavens that there aren't only two chances." Miranda exclaimed, "I know what you're going through right now, Lucas. After your first divorce you can think that fault for the failure was mutual but when the end of the second marriage comes you start to feel blame and inadequacy." 

Lucas looked up at her, "I can't imagine you've ever felt inadequate."

"I spent most of my adult life feeling inadequate." 

"You never opened up this much to me when we were married." 

Miranda shrugged, "I never opened up this much to myself when we were married. I'm not going to get into a long drawn out over exaggeration of self-pity. I'm just telling you this because I think that you shouldn't give up on yourself."

Lucas left around 10:30 and Miranda went upstairs and booted up her new laptop. She called Donna from her Blackberry. "Hey beautiful."

"Miranda!" Donna cried excitedly, "I was wondering if you'd call today. How was your dinner?"

"Dinner was fine."

"I'm proud of you for inviting him to dinner. He seems like a lost soul." Donna said, "it's good of you to try and befriend him." 

Miranda started stripping out of her clothes, "I don't want to talk about ex-husbands." She set the laptop down on the sink in the bathroom and started to draw a bath. "I want to talk about you. Can you go get on Skype?" 

Donna grinned, "yeah, I can pull myself away." 

"Good," Miranda purred, "I want to take a bath with you."


	8. Chapter 8

"Serena," Miranda set down the stack of papers on the desk, "I don't see the resumes for the art director position."

"Actually, I didn't advertise for any." Serena admitted. 

"You didn't..." Miranda pursed her lips, she leaned back in her chair and scrutinized Serena closely. "Now, what motivation would you have for that?"

"Miranda, I would very much like to apply for that position. I think that I am more than qualified." 

"Do you have a resume?" Miranda asked noncommittally. 

"Yes, I do." Serena hurried over to the desk she'd been using and gathered her resume together and rushed back to Miranda. "I attended the School of Art and Design in Berlin and I studied fashion at the Art Institute here in New York. I've worked for Runway for nine years, but before Runway I was a graphic designer for CosmoGirl and Seventeen. And I-" 

"I'm reading." Miranda said impatiently, not looking up from the resume.

"Sorry." Serena sat down in the chair in front of the desk to wait for Miranda to look up again. 

Miranda set the resume down and looked at the samples of work from CosmoGirl and Seventeen. Miranda closed the portfolio and looked up at Serena.

Serena looked on hopefully. 

"Mock up a layout." Miranda finally said, "then we'll talk about it again. In the meantime, I need you to weed out the incompetents from this pile." 

"Absolutely," Serena picked up the weighty pile from the corner of the desk, "which position are they applying for?"

"Those? They're applying to be underlings in the Closet." Miranda stood and gathered up her coat and purse, "I'm going to lunch. Have that done for when I come back."

A few minutes later Emily cleared her throat. Serena looked up and cocked an eyebrow, "yes?"

"Serena, go get me a coffee." 

Serena grinned slowly, "I don't work for you." 

"You work for the editor-in-chief of Runway. That's me." Emily attempted to stare her down.

"I'm not getting your coffee." Serena scoffed, "I'm not even getting paid for what I'm doing for Miranda." 

"So when does your assistantship end?" Emily asked, suddenly more interested in when Serena would be gone than making her perform menial tasks. 

"Hopefully soon." Serena attempted to hide her smug grin. Emily rolled her eyes and headed for the door, "hey, if you're going out for coffee get me one." 

"Bite me!" 

"Maybe later, Liebchen." Serena called. 

**

Donna picked up a tray of dishes and went to push open the door before it opened from the other side, smacking into the tray and nearly causing Donna to drop everything.

Sophie poked her head in sheepishly, "sorry, mom." 

"Sophie, damn it." Donna set the tray down. "There's an in door and an out door, please try to keep them straight!" 

"I'm _sorry_." 

Donna sighed and rubbed her eyes, "no, Soph, I'm sorry I snapped at you. I think I'm having sex withdrawal." 

Sophie laughed, "it's only been a little over two weeks, are you telling me you're just going to keep getting worse for six months?"

"Nah, I'll probably have committed sepuku by then." Donna joked. "I mean, I went over twenty years without it just fine but when you have it... and it goes away. It's very difficult."

"Mom, there's actually something I wanted to talk to you about."

"Sweetheart, can it wait until after the breakfast rush?" 

"Yeah, absolutely." Sophie nodded, watching her mother carrying the tray into the dining room. 

**

Miranda sat down across the table from Cassidy. She stuck a fork into her meager excuse for food and sighed, taking a skeptical bite. 

Cassidy pushed the food around the plate, "let's order out tomorrow night." 

Miranda raised her eyebrows in silent agreement. She took another pained bite before setting her fork down. "Have you thought about going back to university?"

Cassidy shrugged, "I _thought_ about it."

"And decided _what_?"

"And decided that I'm 19 and I can make my own decisions." Cassidy said pointedly. 

"I don't understand why you won't just talk to me about this." Miranda exclaimed with exasperation. 

"Because I'm sick and tired of hearing you telling me I have to go back to college! That I'll never get a good job without a degree because you never went back to college and why are you so preachy about it like you're some kind of damn saint?"

"My mother didn't want me to go in the first place, so when I was expelled she didn't try to convince me to go back, I didn't have anyone trying to convince me to go back." Miranda said, then added, almost to herself, "not that there was any guarantee I could have." 

"What does that even mean? Why won't you tell us why you were expelled?" Cassidy demanded. 

"Because it was a lifetime ago and it doesn't matter." 

"How can you sit there and ask me to be honest with you when you're not honest with us?"

Miranda considered that for a moment, "it's not something I personally wish to discuss." 

" _Why_?" 

"Because..." Miranda sighed heavily, "that's my choice and I'm asking you to respect that." 

"Yeah... well, I'm an adult and I don't want to go back to school. I'm asking you to respect that." Cassidy crossed her arms across her chest defiantly.

"Fine." Miranda pursed her lips, "I'm not helping you out financially anymore."

"Fine." Cassidy stood up. 

"Aren't you going to finish eating?" 

Cassidy looked down at the meal prepared by Miranda, "hey, just because you don't agree with my decision is no reason to poison me."

Miranda pouted and pushed away her own food with disdain. After a few minutes she picked up her blackberry. 

"Andy Sachs." Andy answered, cradling the phone between her cheek and shoulder as her fingers tapped away at the keys of her laptop.

"Andrea. You're still at work?" 

"I am. It's only six, it's not that late." Andy shifted the phone to the other ear, "I get out soon though."

"I want you to teach me how to cook. I'm absolutely dreadful at it. Maybe it would be a nice surprise for Donna if I learned how to make a few things. So she wouldn't always have to cook for me." 

"Yeah, I think that sounds sweet. I get out at seven and I'll come over." 

"No, meet me at the supermarket, we'll need ingredients. I'll bring my cookbook." Miranda said curtly, "that's all." 

"Which supermarket?" Andy questioned and was answered only by dead air, "...Miranda?"

At seven Andy got out and tried her luck that Miranda meant the supermarket nearest the townhouse. She found Miranda hovering over the cantaloupe display. "Andrea, do I like cantaloupe?"

"I think so." Andy nodded, "but I don't know many recipes that call for cantaloupe." 

"I could make a fruit salad." Miranda objected.

"I wouldn't call that cooking." Andy quipped. 

Miranda tried to glare through a smile, "I could make a tarte."

"That's _baking_." 

"Alright." Miranda set the cantaloupe down, "alright. Lead on." 

A couple of hours later, Miranda and Andy sat at her kitchen table with the finished product. It was chicken breaded and baked with bread crumbs and Romano cheese with cooked carrots and sauteed green beans. 

"You did it, Miranda." Andy grinned. 

It smelled heavenly, even Miranda had to admit that. But she shrugged, "no, I didn't. You did. Credit where credit is due."

"What are you talking about? I didn't even touch the food."

Miranda set down forks in front of each plate, "granted, it was by my hand this chicken was prepared but you instructed me, you had the instincts for when to flip the chicken, when to add more water so the green beans didn't burn." Miranda sighed, "I just don't have the instincts." 

"You can learn the instincts."

"Andrea. One cannot _learn instincts_. By definition, instincts are something you're born with." 

"Okay, I'm not going to argue semantics with you." Andy said, "but it's learnable. You can learn how to cook and how to react to it. There's a lot that's common sense when you think about it. Take green beans for example: water evaporates, right? So you have to make sure that there's enough water to cook them, if they touch the pan without water they burn." 

Miranda nodded, "that's sensible."

"Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. I mean, maybe you won't ever make it an art, but you can learn how to do it." Andy picked up the fork in front of Miranda's plate, "why don't you try it?" 

Miranda pursed her lips, "I'm almost afraid to."

"Don't be so trepidatious. You said yourself that I made more of it than you did and I'm liable to be offended by your nervousness." Andy smiled.

Miranda rolled her eyes good-naturedly and took a hesitant bite. "It's pretty good." 

Andy took a few bites herself and they ate in silence for a while before Andy spoke, "why don't we do dinner again on Friday, you can cook this time. I'll be over at 7:15, you should start cooking at about 6." 

"I... don't think I'm ready for that." 

"Oh, don't you even say that. You're Miranda Priestly, you're ready for anything and everything. Just remember a few things: low heat cooks things slower but more thoroughly, high heat cooks things faster on the outside, leaving the inside more raw." 

"These things all make sense." Miranda nodded. 

By the time they'd finished dinner and they'd done the dishes it was almost ten. "I guess I should get going." Andy said, looking at the time on her phone. 

"We're on for lunch tomorrow?" Miranda asked, sad to see her friend go. She'd grown quite unaccustomed to being completely alone and felt a pang of loss by Andy's need to go home. 

"Of course." Andy grinned. Lunch with Miranda had always been fun but only since her promotion could she really justify spending as much money as she had to in order to eat lunch with Miranda. In Miranda's absence, Andy typically ate alone, which was nice sometimes, but lonely. 

**

Andy opened the door of her apartment about fifteen minutes later. Emily looked up from a cup of coffee. She glanced at the clock on the microwave and looked at Andy with an air of annoyance. 

"I was at Miranda's."

"Surprise, surprise." Emily muttered, sipping her coffee and going back to the budget report she was reading. 

"What's that supposed to mean?" Andy hung up her coat and went to the refrigerator. 

"Nothing." Emily flipped a page in the report and her eyes went wide. "Christ alive, the woman has no concept of a budget! She thinks money grows on goddamned trees." 

"What's she done this time?" Andy opened a diet coke. 

Emily looked up disdainfully, "that is pure sugar." 

"It's _diet_." 

"The carbonation makes you burp."

Andy smirked, "at least it doesn't make me fart." 

"You are so crude." Emily had turned back to the budget report. "I have to meet with Irv tomorrow... I don't know how I'm going to justify all of this." 

"What did she do?" Andy sat down at the table.

"Well, she canceled my photo shoot and organized an entirely new one which is already an ungodly amount of money that was wasted but she also fired half of the staff and she's paying the replacements almost double the wages." Emily closed the report and rubbed her eyes, "Irv is going to shit a brick."

"You should talk to her about it."

"There's no talking to Miranda. It's all for 'the good of the magazine,' she says there is 'no excuse for settling for mediocrity because it's cheaper.'"

Andy watched Emily for a moment before asking, "don't you agree with that?"

"Well, obviously my first priority is to keep up the integrity of the magazine but my goal is to make the best of the budget I'm given." 

"Miranda used to say that Irv gave her a smaller budget than he was actually willing to pay for. You know, because she consistently went over budget. It's more like a conservative estimate." 

Emily sneered, getting up from the table and slamming the door to the bathroom behind her. 

** 

"You're kidding." Sophie stared at Skye who was busying himself with idle work to avoid looking at her.

"No." Skye admitted, "I want to stay here." 

"You're the one who's always saying there's more to life than Villa Donna." Sophie took a few steps away from him before walking back, "you're the one who wanted to go out on our own. We said we'd come back to help out my mom while she got the hotel established. She won all that money over three years ago! The hotel has been a goldmine for almost as long. She doesn't need us anymore."

"I need _her_." Skye snapped. Skye and Sophie stared at each other for a moment before Skye sighed and clarified, "I need Villa Donna."

"What are you talking about?"

"We went out and did the traveling thing. Why do you want to throw away your home?" Skye demanded.

"My _home_. This isn't some maladjusted last-ditch attempt at the home you never had, is it?"

Skye pulled away from Sophie, "I can't believe you're trivializing my feelings." 

Sophie rubbed her eyes, shaking her head out of frustration. "You were a foster kid, I get it." 

"Clearly you don't." Skye crossed his arms across his chest. 

"Okay, fine, we can get ourselves a house. We can have a home that doesn't have to be here." 

"Donna's the closest thing that I've ever had to a mother. I love her and I don't want to live anywhere other than Villa Donna." 

"Okay, fine. I can appreciate that, I also love my mother but we can get our own place _nearby_ and still visit, you could even still work here." Sophie put her hands on his shoulders, "because I don't want to live here for the rest of my life and I think my feelings should count too." 

Skye considered her words and nodded, "alright. But I think we should wait until Miranda gets back. I think Donna needs our support." 

Sophie nodded, conceding defeat, "fine."


	9. Chapter 9

"Miranda, this layout." Emily walked through the office doors to find Miranda behind her desk. "I knew you were brilliant but this is phenomenal." 

All of her ire about the hellish meeting with Irv had melted when she laid eyes on the mocked up layout. 

Miranda took her glasses off and smirked, "I accept the 'brilliant' complement, however I did not compose said layout."

"You didn't?" Emily's brow furrowed in confusion. She looked over the layout again and back up at Miranda, "you didn't hire anyone for the art director position." 

"I just hired her actually." Miranda looked up with a mischievous twinkle, "you can look forward to that in your next budget report." 

"You enjoy this, don't you?" Emily rolled her eyes a little. "The budget, Miranda..." 

"How did you slave away under me for five years and not understand how this magazine runs?" Miranda asked rhetorically, standing up, her posture defensive. 

"I know that you ran it on fear and unreasonable expectations of everyone around you." 

"People cling so hard to mediocrity. If they don't ever try their best they can't be told that their best isn't good enough. It becomes an _excuse_ to vilify people who want people to _actually_ try their best."

"Yeah, you're the victim, Miranda." 

"Sarcasm doesn't become you, Emily." Miranda pursed her lips. "This magazine can only run if the person at its helm is dedicated enough to demand only the best. Anything less creates a subpar magazine. No one reads subpar magazines."

Emily stood face-to-face with the silver haired giant of publishing and suddenly felt very small. She knew, of course, that the magazine preferred Miranda, the world preferred Miranda and Andy preferred Miranda. As Andy had told her, she ain't no Miranda Priestly. 

"Next month you can go to the budget meeting with Irv." Emily sneered. 

**

Miranda had lunch with Andy and then taken the rest of the afternoon off. The first day after the issue went to print was always the slowest and Miranda wanted to take the opportunity to take Cassidy around to see a few schools. 

Cassidy and Miranda sat in the back of the Lexus while Cassidy systematically tried to avoid her mother. 

"Cassidy," Miranda sighed, "at this point my main argument for you continuing with college is that there is no place, _other_ than _college_ , to play _college_ sports." 

"Well obviously," Cassidy rolled her eyes, finally turning to look at Miranda, "but it _isn't_ the _only_ place to play sports."

"Granted." Miranda said with resignation. She leaned forward, "are we almost there?"

The driver, Ron, looked back at Miranda through the mirror and gave her a knowing smile, "just a few more minutes, Ms. Priestly." 

Miranda sat back, at her feet was the bag of college information that Serena had acquired for her. She looked down at it and back over at Cassidy and felt rather hopeless about the whole ordeal. 

"Here we are, Ms. Priestly," Ron announced, pulling the car over, "New York University. I'll just be a phone call away when you're ready to leave."

Miranda nodded acknowledgingly as he opened her door for her and Cassidy. "Thanks." Cassidy grumbled as she stepped out behind Miranda. 

Just as they reached the top step to enter the admissions building, Cassidy grabbed Miranda's shoulder. "Hey, look, I really don't want to go back."

"Okay, Cassidy, I'm not an altogether unreasonable person. I'm a businesswoman and I'll make you a deal: you put up with me and the college visits and apply to a couple. You wouldn't get in until the fall anyway, so you can get a job for the summer and if at the end of the summer you really don't want to go back to college you don't have to." 

Cassidy considered her mother's words and nodded, "fine." 

"Today we'll do NYU, Barnard and the New York Institute of Technology." 

"Fine." Cassidy nodded. 

**

Emily was enjoying her Miranda-free afternoon. She was sitting in Miranda's office with her feet propped up on a stack of her stack of papers. She knew that it was childish but it made her feel a little better. She was just about to take another sip of her latte when she saw Serena in the outer office. 

Emily tried to pretend she hadn't seen her but the leggy German-born woman pushed the glass door open, "guten abend, liebchen." 

Emily pursed her lips, "when is your assistantship over?"

"It officially ended this morning." Serena smiled. 

"Too bad. Not that the last four and a half weeks haven't been completely hellish." 

"Oh, liebchen, admit it, you've enjoyed having me around." 

Emily and Serena locked eyes for a long moment. "I admit nothing. And stop calling me 'liebchen.' I swear to god, if I hear it one more time I'm going to stab a pencil through my eye." 

"And what beautiful eyes you have," Serena reached forward and gently brushed Emily's cheek. 

Emily swatted Serena's hand away and stared at her with angry incredulity. "Don't. Touch. Me." 

**

Miranda lowered her feet into a bucket of Epsom salt and hot water. The first time she'd gone college touring with her girls she'd had the good sense to wear ballet flats. She also hadn't done three in one day. They'd barely done three in one week. Both twins knew where they wanted to go. 

Miranda cursed her beautiful, elegant, Chanel stiletto heels. The balls of her feet were crying out. She closed her eyes and basked in the feeling of the hot water consuming her feet. 

The phone rang. Miranda reached out and picked it up, not opening her eyes, "Miranda Priestly."

"You sound relaxed." Andy giggled from the other end.

"Mmm, I am..." Miranda drawled, shifting and sloshing the water.

"You forgot, didn't you?"

Miranda furrowed her brow, "no..." 

"You don't know what I'm talking about, do you?" Andy smiled.

Miranda sighed, "no, I don't." 

"It's Friday and you're supposed to be making dinner." Andy helped her. Miranda groaned and sat up. "What's that water sound?" 

"Water."

Andy laughed, "if you don't want to do it tonight, we can reschedule."

"No, no. I'm good for my word. I will cook for you this evening. I'll see you a little after 7."

"It's a deal, Priestly." 

The call ended and Miranda gently pulled her feet out of the water, set them on the towel and groaned. Stepping gingerly down the stairs Miranda made it to the kitchen. She opened the refrigerator and pulled out her necessary ingredients, all the while asking herself why she thought this was a good idea. 

Miranda's dinner wasn't as good as it was when Andy helped but it wasn't bad. Andy felt like it had been successful. Andy and Miranda parted company around 10:30 after dinner. 

**

Emily was asleep on the couch with a book in her hand. Andy closed the door behind her and tossed her light jacket onto the coat rack next to the door. Emily looked up and slid off the couch. Standing up, rubbing her eyes she looked at Andy and scowled. "Where were you?"

Andy opened her mouth to speak but Emily held up a hand to stop her, "wait no. I can guess. You were at Miranda's." 

Andy sighed. 

"You know, I really needed you tonight." Emily took her mug from the table and put it in the sink. "I really needed you." 

"I'm not a mind reader." Andy rolled her eyes, "you could have called me if you were so desperate."

"I should call you so that you'll come home? Why don't you call when you're _not_ coming home? What a novel concept!" Emily stormed in the direction of the bedroom, "better yet, I'll just call Miranda when I want you to come home."

"You don't have to get so uppity about it."

"Uppity!" Emily repeated with incredulity. She disappeared into the bedroom. Andy followed her but she came back out with an armful of blankets and a pillow. 

"What are you doing?" 

"I'm sleeping on the couch." Emily snapped as she burrowed into the couch.

Andy rolled her eyes, "oh, _whatever_." She walked to the end of the hallway and looked back at Emily. She sighed and walked back, "this is silly."

"Go. Away." Emily said, hiding her whole head under the pillow. 

"Come on, Em, come to bed." 

"No." 

Andy knelt down in front of the couch, pulling the pillow off of Emily so she could look at her face. "You're going to be sore in the morning if you sleep on the couch."

"I don't care." Emily said defiantly, staring into Andy's face. 

"Come on, we can have angry sex." Andy smiled, batting her eyelashes. 

"I'm not angry horny, I'm just _angry_." Emily yanked the pillow away from Andy and snapped, "leave. Me. _Alone_!" before covering her face again. 

**

Cassidy looked at the gps on her phone and looked up at the community center in front of her. She couldn't help but curl her lip a little at the sorry state of the center's facade. She sighed and steeled her resolve to walk in. The inside was somewhat nicer. She looked skeptically around as she approached the main office. 

She knocked on the door and was beckoned inside. "Hi, I have an appointment with Janet Williams."

The striking woman behind the desk stood up and extended a hand for her, "that's me." She smiled, "you must be Cassidy Priestly, have a seat."

They sat down. "Priestly, any relation to Miranda Priestly?" 

Cassidy nodded, "my mother."

"I have to admit, Ms. Priestly, I'm surprised that you called about an interview." Janet pulled out the resume that Cassidy had faxed to her. "We're a city funded community center. We can't pay you much."

Cassidy shrugged, "I'm not really interested in the money, I just want to play sports and teach other people how to play." 

"Well, I do feel that I should warn you. Positions like this one are often...vacated quickly." 

"I was a high schooler not that long ago, I think I can deal." 

"Well, more power to you," Janet smiled, "I'm just going to have you fill out a few forms and I'll get you on payroll and you can start on Monday. Until schools get out the hours are three to six, is that good for you?"

"It's perfect." 

"Once school gets out though, if you're still interested in the job, the hours will increase." 

"Sounds good to me, Ms. Williams." 

**

Miranda was arranging polaroids on the table in front of her, trying to choose a few shots for the cover spread of the next issue when her phone vibrated. She looked at it and a picture of Donna on the one by one inch screen told her that it was bound to be a good call. 

She picked it up and put it to her ear, "hello my love." 

"Hi." Donna smiled, settling into the chair in her office. "Is this a good time?"

"For you?" Miranda smiled, "it's always a good time. How are you and how is Greece without me?"

"Greece without you is lonely and I'm okay." 

"Just okay? That's not what I want to hear. Are you keeping busy?"

Donna laughed, "you know me, Mira. It's a little weird though, Sophie and Skye are fighting about something. I just feel like the tone has shifted. I'm probably just being silly, talking myself into everyone else feeling as out of sorts as I am." 

"I don't want you to feel out of sorts." Miranda frowned, "I'm sorry to hear that." 

Donna shrugged, "I know it's been a month. I am feeling a little less out of sorts than I was when you first left. So hopefully I'll have returned to full sorts by the time you're back." 

"You can come visit me any time, you know." 

"I'm sure I'll take you up on that offer very soon." 

Miranda heard the elevator ding and looked up even though the elevator's occupant would have to walk the length of the hallway before he or she would be visible. Miranda glanced at the time, 6:34 pm. 

"Sweetheart. Someone's here, can I call you in the morning?" 

"Absolutely. I love you."

"I love you, too." Miranda smiled, "bye." 

Irv Ravitz appeared in the doorway, he knocked on the outer door. Miranda set the phone down and beckoned him with a feeling of annoyance.


	10. Chapter 10

Miranda waited for Irv to speak. She stared at Irv, silently hoping that he'd change his mind and leave. 

"Welcome back," he attempted a smile. "You know, back to the city."

Miranda nodded curtly. "I'm kind of busy." Miranda touched the polaroids. "If you need something, I believe that's Emily's department."

"This has to be like heaven for you, huh?" He laughed, "all the artistic responsibilities and none of the financial ones?" 

Miranda made a non-commital throaty hmph. 

"I know we never really saw eye to eye but we can't put this behind us?" 

"There's nothing to put behind us, Irv." Miranda smirked, "I just don't really like you."

"Well, Celine wanted me to invite you out to dinner." 

"Tell her thanks for the offer and I'll call her for lunch sometime." Miranda smirked again. 

Irv scuffed his foot, "can't say I didn't ask." He turned away and then back, "all those new hires of yours... you can't deflect that all off to Emily. We'll talk about that next month when we see what the actual damage is." 

" _Goodnight_." Miranda said impatiently, sitting back in her chair. As soon as she heard the elevator begin to descend, she stretched out, putting a foot up on the desk and leaning back, slipping her eyes shut. 

"Miranda?"

Miranda opened her eyes and set her foot on the floor, embarrassed. "What is it Serena?" 

"I didn't mean to startle you." Serena bit her lip. 

" _What is it_?" She repeated.

"Leslie just faxed this to me." Serena held out a packet of papers to Miranda, "it's set to print tomorrow. Thought you'd want to see it." 

Miranda sighed heavily, taking the papers from Serena and looking them over. She sighed and took her glasses off. She nodded dismissively at Serena, who took it as her cue to leave. 

She read through the article and rolled her eyes. She picked up her blackberry and made another call. The editor of The New York Times magazine. "Gerald. We need to talk." 

"Miranda, how wonderful it is to hear from you." He grinned. "How are you this evening?"

"Pull the article." Miranda said humourlessly. 

He laughed, "I was hoping you'd get it tonight."

"It's so childish." Miranda flipped through the packet, "abducted by aliens? That's the third most popular theory? I think your writers need to get their heads examined."

"Give me a full interview and I'll yank the story right now." 

"Forget it." Miranda hung up the phone. Miranda thought for a moment before dialing Andy. 

"Andy Sachs."

"Andrea, it's Miranda. Do you still talk to the man with the strange eyebrows?" 

"Um..." Andy laughed, "could you be a little more specific?" 

"The one who works for The New York Times."

"Oh. Christian Thompson."

"Bore someone else with names, Andrea. Do you still talk to him?" Miranda repeated. 

"Yeah, I do. We're friends. Why?" 

Miranda sighed heavily, "forget it. Page Six is running a ludicrous story. But there's nothing that can be done. It's not slander, it's just idiotic. But you know..." Miranda trailed off, thinking.

"What?" Andy coaxed.

"For investigative writers, they're terrible at it."

"At investigating or writing?"

Miranda snorted a laugh, "both. It's amazing to me that no one has figured out where I've been. No one has been able to check flight logs or tax forms or passport bureaus?" 

"Well, if you want my take on the whole thing." Andy shrugged, "they make a hell of a lot more money on not finding you. Finding you is one story but new theories and polls and the like, that's a lot of stories and a lot of traffic for their website. Maybe they know exactly where you've been." 

"Don't you think if they did they'd know about Donna?" 

"You're not known by many to be an open and loving person." Andy laughed, "they wouldn't assume you were off having a wild and amazing love affair." 

"It's not a wild affair, Andrea." Miranda said defensively, chastising her. "I love Donna with the entirety of my being. I expect those who do not know me to doubt my commitment, but Andrea..." 

"I wasn't doubting you, Miranda, I was just trying to say it like the press would say it. I didn't mean to offend."

Miranda let out an almost inaudible sigh. "What are you doing for dinner?" 

"I should go home. Emily's been really annoying about my eating dinner with you." 

Miranda pursed her lips, "fine. Lunch tomorrow?" 

Andy turned her planner over to the next day. "Noon?"

Miranda nodded, "I'm feeling adventurous, you can pick the restaurant, I'll pick you up out front at noon." 

**

Andy hung up her things in the closet and called out to Emily, "honey, I'm home." 

"Before ten?" Emily's voice drifted in from the back room, "I'm stunned." 

Andy found her lounging on a plush couch in the tv room. "You look sexy," Andy grinned from the doorway. 

Emily looked up at her and pursed her lips, "just talk to Miranda on the phone?" 

"Why would you ask me that right now?" Andy furrowed her brow. 

"Just curious." Emily lied, she nudged the packet of papers with her foot, "Leslie faxed this over to me, the article about Miranda." 

"Yeah, I just talked to Miranda before I got out of work." Andy admitted. 

"Figured." She mumbled, turning back to her book. 

"What's that supposed to mean?" Andy sat down in the couch across from Emily's chair.

"Do you even realize that every time you've tried to have sex with me in the last two months you've either just talked to Miranda on the phone or just come from Miranda's house?" 

The furrow in Andy's brow deepened, "what are you trying to say?" 

"You've spent more time with Miranda than you've spent with me since she's been back and all you want to do when you're home is have sex or go to sleep." 

"Pardon me if I don't want to have quality time with you right now, you're angry all the time. You're pissy about the budget or you're pissy about Miranda putting you in your place or-"

" _'Putting me in my PLACE_?'" Emily stared at Andy incredulously, "tell me those words did not just come out of your mouth." 

"Okay, I'm sorry. I... didn't mean that." Andy's eyes were wide, she knew that if she lived through the night she was definitely in the doghouse. "Em... Emily... Emily Charlton. _You_ are so great, you're an amazing editor. You're everything." 

"Oh jesus, you're pathetic." Emily stood up from the chair and started to pace. 

"Emily, you know that's not what I meant!" Andy yelled. "Stop, damn it. Just talk to me!" 

Emily stopped and turned to stare at Andy. " _Sweetie_. I already did." 

Andy looked confused, "what is it you said?"

"I said, my dear," Emily stepped forward into Andy's personal space. Andy suddenly questioned whether engaging Emily just then was the right plan or not. Emily started to speak again, her lips so close that Andy could feel the breath from each word. "Seeing Miranda or talking to Miranda makes you horny. "

"Don't be ridiculous." Andy scoffed, "the whole basis of your argument is that I happened to have just seen or talked to Miranda when I come home and want to have sex with _you_. Miranda is lonely, she's away from Donna and she calls me and wants to spend time with me because she's lonely." 

Emily scoffed back. 

Andy pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and tossed it on the ground in annoyance. "Look at my call history! Miranda calls me four times out of five! You can _look_." 

Emily remained silent, not sure how to answer Andy. 

"Do me a favor and try to keep your Runway bullshit out of our relationship and stop using your distaste for Miranda to launch a crusade against me!"

**

Miranda was going through a few of the designer clothes in the hall closet when Cassidy opened the door. "Hey sweetpea." Miranda smiled. 

"Hi mom."

"Do I get your for dinner this evening?" 

Cassidy smirked, "depends." She tossed her purse into the closet by Miranda, "you cooking?"

Miranda shook her head, "take-out. Your choice." 

"Count me in then." Cassidy nodded. She and Miranda stood there silently for a moment. "Well, I got a job today."

"Oh!" Miranda smiled proudly at Cassidy. "Doing what?"

**

Cassidy stood in front of the group of twenty high school aged children. She'd been told that their ages ranged from thirteen to sixteen but a few of them looked as though they were in their late twenties. She was clearly half the weight of the thinnest kid in the crowd. _Hot damn,_ she thought, _what kind of hormones are they injecting into the cereal milk these days?_

The children, combined into one entity, like a pre-pubescent transformer, stared back at her challengingly. 

"Alright. I'm Cassidy and I'm here to facilitate after-school sports." Cassidy announced, trying to sound more confident than she felt.

"What does some skinny white girl know about sports?" One girl groused, crossing her arms across her chest. Her friend who stood next to her pouted and she turned to her and said softly with a laugh, "present company excluded." 

"I'm in shape and that's what counts." 

"Not in football." A boy to Cassidy's left made his presence known.

Cassidy looked over at him and did a double take when she took his height and his weight and his body mass and vowed never to play football with this particular group of kids. 

"Even in football," she said, a little less sure of herself. She cleared her throat, "you're never going to be able to play well if you pass out at the forty yard line because your mother's spaghetti is clogging your arteries. But that is beside the point right now. We're going to play dodgeball today."

"Why?"

"Because the equipment I was given consists of a bag of dodgeballs, one volleyball, no net and four hockey sticks." Cassidy dropped the bag of balls onto the pavement. "So, I'm going to divide you in half."

The kids groaned collectively. 

"I am not assigning captains who will pick people because I want you all to think of the others as your team and a team divided against itself cannot stand. We will all support each other. Got it?" Cassidy put her hand on her hip, the kids scuffed their feet. "Alright. From here over is one team, and the other. Grab a ball and center court is the halfway divider." 

The children picked up the balls, no fights starting out for the limited number and took their places on either side of the court. Cassidy strutted to the middle. "The rules: if you get hit with the ball, you sit until a team mate taps your shoulder, if someone catches your ball, you sit. No crossing into the other team's side of the court or you will be removed from the game. Got it?" 

The children mumbled agreements and she moved to the sideline, "alright... go!"

No sooner had she given the go command when she was pelted with balls. She yelped, falling backwards and landing on her ass as the balls continued to hit her. Her arms flew up to protect her face, "stop!" She yelled. 

She was getting very upset. " _Stop it_!" She stood up and grabbed the shoulder of the nearest child's t-shirt.

The barrage of dodgeballs ceased and Cassidy stood there seething. "Go home!" Shouted the girl whose t-shirt she was stretching. Cassidy let her go and she jumped back. 

"This isn't a lifetime movie, you're not here to save us." 

"I'm not trying to save you. I don't give a shit what you do when you're not here." Cassidy snarled. 

Another one of the kids threw a ball at her. She saw it coming out of the corner of her eye, but unfortunately it only made her turn towards it, helping it hit her square in the face. "Just give it up." 

Cassidy clutched her nose, "I am not quitting!" 

"Children," Janet Williams appeared on the other end of the court, "come on, let's go to music."

The kids filed into the building and when the door closed on the last one of them, Janet approached Cassidy. She extended a hand to her, "are you alright?" 

Cassidy accepted her hand and stood up, brushing herself off, "yeah, I'm fine." 

"Look, I was skeptical about hiring you. You're so young, I thought maybe you'd have an easier time with them. If you don't want to come back. I understand."

"I said I'm fine." Cassidy furrowed her brow. 

"You just got ambushed by twenty high schoolers with dodgeballs." Janet looked at Cassidy with surprise. "The last one hit you in the face. They assaulted you." 

"Hey, Priestlys don't quit. I've been fired, expelled and eighty-sixed but I don't quit!" Cassidy steeled herself, "Ms. Williams, I will see you tomorrow." 

**

Miranda climbed the stairs to the highest storrey of the townhouse to find Cassidy rooting through boxes, throwing things around haphazardly as she dug. 

"Hey, hey." Miranda protested, picking up a few stuffed animals from the floor as she walked up to Cassidy, "careful with these things."

Cassidy looked up at her, "they're mine."

Miranda held Mr. Carrots to chest, "and clearly they mean more to me than they do to you." 

Cassidy took the over-stuffed bunny out of Miranda's hands, "mom, he's fabric and fluff." She tossed him across the room, "he'll survive. And what the hell kind of name is Mr. Carrots? I'm surprised you didn't put me in special needs classes for naming him that."

Miranda sat down next to Cassidy. "You were three." Miranda stroked Cassidy's hair, "I was hoping that Mr. Carrots would be passed onto your children."

"Mom, I'm never having children. They're monsters, they're horrible awful monsters." 

"Yeah, but you love them anyway." Miranda wrapped her arms around Cassidy's waist and gave her an affectionate hug. 

"What's gotten into you?" Cassidy furrowed her brow, though not pulling away from Miranda's hug. "You seem like you're in an awfully good mood." 

"I just love you and I'm happy to come home to you." Miranda kissed Cassidy's cheek. "What's gotten into you? Why are you throwing your old toys around the attic?" 

"They're collateral damage. I'm looking for some stuff." 

"How was your first day of work?"

"You didn't figure it out from the horrible monsters comment?" Cassidy raised an eyebrow at Miranda, "children are horrible monsters. My problem is that I didn't have a game plan, but tomorrow I'll be ready for their bullshit." 

"How are your baby toys going to help you? I thought you said they were high schoolers." 

"It's not the stuffed animals I'm looking for." Cassidy pulled out the stack of plastic bowls that she and Caroline had used for playing house. "Aha!"

Miranda watched her curiously, "I still don't understand." 

"Okay, well, I tried to make them play dodgeball but they all just threw the balls at me." Cassidy took two of the bowls and dropped the rest back into the box. "Anyway, I got this idea to make something to protect my chest."

"What happened to your chest protector?" 

"Still in transit from England. Thank you very much." Cassidy said pointedly. "So, for now I'm mutilating a bra and defiling a beloved set of bowls."

Miranda laughed, "I'll buy you a new chest protector, Cassidy."

"No, no. You're not supporting me financially anymore." Cassidy smirked.

Miranda snorted, "I'm still paying for all your food and not charging you rent. I'm just not putting money into your bank account anymore. Come on, we'll get you some new protective gear." 

"So I threw all my toys around the attic for nothing?"

Miranda shrugged, "call it bad day at work therapy." Miranda stood and pointed Cassidy toward the steps, "now we'll have a little retail therapy and a little restaurant therapy." 

"Okay." Cassidy nodded, pouting, secretly happy to have her mother fussing over her again. 

**

"Hey mom. Phone for you." Sophie poked her head into the kitchen. "I transferred it."

"Thanks, sweetie." Donna wiped her hands off and picked up the kitchen phone, "Donna Sheridan." She listened and sighed, "I've told you before..." she stopped and listened again. She bit her lip, thinking. "Okay." She laughed, "no, your ears do not decieve you, Mr. Simons... alright, yes. Next week... Tuesday. Yes, okay. I'll see you then. Goodbye."


	11. Chapter 11

Emily looked up as Serena planted herself in front of the chair in the break room. "What?" Emily asked tiredly.

"It's quitting time. Come on, liebchen, let's get a drink." 

"I'm not going anywhere with you. I hate it when you call me liebchen and that's a really ugly dress on you." 

Serena laughed, "you picked it out yourself for this month's shoot." 

"It makes you look stumpy." Emily grumbled.

"liebchen, I'm 6'1," and I haven't met a dress yet that could make me look stumpy." 

"Fine. You're tall, statuesque and you have a set of legs that goes on for miles." Emily looked up at Serena. "Now go away."

"You're really never going to forgive me?" Serena sighed. 

Emily cocked an eyebrow, looking back down to her work. "If you have to ask..." 

Serena pulled a chair up to Emily's. Emily pointedly ignored her. Serena put a hand on Emily's arm, effectively pulling her attention away from her work. "liebchen- _Emily_ ," Serena corrected herself before Emily could protest, "when I broke up with you... it didn't feel good."

"Nobody twisted your arm." Emily sneered.

"No, nobody did." Serena shook her head, "it was one mistake I made entirely on my own. You always talked about forever. You were so young, I'm ten years older than you and I panicked a little. Okay, I panicked a lot. I thought how could you possibly know what you wanted when you were still figuring out who you were. I realized I was the one who was still figuring out who I was. I was so naive to think you didn't know what you wanted." 

Emily stared at her in disbelief. 

"Emily, when I broke up with you, I made the biggest mistake that I've ever made. I know that. But I'm happy that you've found your forever." 

"Yeah..." Emily was nearly speechless. 

"I'd like to still be your friend. I'd like it if we could put it behind us." Serena looked at Emily pleadingly, "Emily, I've been trying to be coy but I can't do it anymore. I just want you to say you forgive me. I want you to say we can still be friends." 

Emily was torn between being flattered, offended and self-satisfied. She watched Serena for a few long moments pondering the sincerity before she finally nodded, "yes, alright." Emily nodded, "alright, I forgive you." 

"We can be friends again?"

Emily nodded, afraid to speak. 

"I'm glad." Serena smiled brightly. She stood, "so how about that drink?"

Emily shook her head, "no, I'm working." 

"What does Ms. Sachs think of you working so late?"

Emily looked up again and scrutinized Serena for a few long moments. "I'd be surprised if she even notices." 

"Trouble in paradise?" Serena bit her lip.

"Don't do that." Emily scolded.

"Do what?"

" _Flirt_." Emily narrowed her eyes.

Serena put a hand on her chest. "Me? liebchen, you cut me to the quick. I was merely pointing out _as a friend_ that it sounds as if you went looking for forever and found an absentee." 

"I'm not discussing this with you." Emily shook her head. "You can just forget that." 

"Fine. I'll see you tomorrow, hm?" Serena mussed up Emily's hair playfully and was met with a harrowing glare, to which she only smiled. Emily glared at her retreating form. Once she was gone from sight and ear shot she shook her head going back to her work.

**

This time when the front door opened and a sleepy woman looked up from the couch, it was Emily who offered a small apologetic smile. "Didn't mean to wake you." Emily whispered. 

Andy shook her head, sitting up, "I'm glad you did, I was waiting up for you." 

Emily sat down on the couch next to her. "Why?"

"Because I wanted to say that I'm sorry." Andy admitted. "I wouldn't like it any better if Miranda came into the Mirror and tried to tell me how to do my job. I understand that it's really hard on you having Miranda back in New York. It was selfish of me to just be happy to have my friend back and not think of how it affected you."

Emily looked down at her feet. Andy leaned over, nudging Emily gently with her nose. Emily smiled, reaching up and cupping Andy's cheek. 

"Still love me?" Andy whispered against Emily's temple, placing a soft kiss there.

"Yeah." Emily wiped at her eyes, she turned and kissed Andy's forehead. "Duh." 

"So what do you say, sailor?" Andy's lips kissed down Emily's neck, "take me to bed?" 

Emily stood up from the couch, taking Andy by the hands and pulling her up and against her body. Andy's arms wrapped around Emily's waist as she dragged her to their bedroom. 

Emily made quick of work of Andy's clothes as they struggled down the hall. It didn't escape Andy's attention that Emily was always so haphazard about Andy's clothes but was always so protective of her own. Andy was determined one day to rip an expensive and beautiful outfit off of her lover. She figured it would be best saved for a time when there relationship wasn't so rocky. 

Andy only had her underwear left when they toppled into bed. Andy grinned at the lust in Emily's eyes. Emily stood back, stripping off her own clothes and climbing over Andy on the bed. Emily's warm thighs moved over Andy's, her skin flushed. 

Andy arched her back into Emily's body, Emily groaned. She loved the feeling of Andy's figure pressed against hers, the ample breasts, the womanly size six hips, it was intoxicating. One thing that Emily had always loved about the way Andy's body felt on her own was that, because she was a little thinner than Andy, she couldn't feel her all pressed against her at once. 

"You are so sexy," Andy whispered into Emily's ear right before pushing her fingers up into Emily. Emily moaned and sat up, rocking against the fingers. Her hands splayed out over Andy's abdomen, sliding up toward her breasts. 

Andy pulled her legs up so that Emily could lean back against them and Andy could penetrate deeper. Emily bucked rhythmically against the thrusting, reaching out and cupping a breast in each hand, kneading the flesh, pinching the nipples. Andy bucked up, the force of her hips helping thrust her fingers still deeper into Emily. 

Andy started to sit up, holding Emily tighter to her body as she probed her. Emily clutched Andy desperately, her fingers digging into her back. Andy felt Emily's body start to spasm, she turned them over pinning Emily to the bed so she couldn't escape. 

Emily cried out incoherent rantings as she rolled her hips and moaned and groaned. Andy kept right on thrusting into Emily, knowing that she hadn't yet reached full capacity. One of Andy's favorite discoveries about Emily was that if she was brought to three orgasms in a row, she'd ejaculate on the third one. 

Based on Emily's cries and jerky movements, Andy knew she was rounding off two and it was only a matter of moments before... Andy moaned loudly, feeling herself throbbing with arousal as the hot liquid flowed freely from Emily, soaking Andy's hand and forearm as well as the sheets beneath her. 

When Andy rolled over, feeling sated and awed. She grinned as she turned her head to look at Emily. Emily grunted, "you just love doing that, don't you?"

Andy just nodded, continuing to grin from ear to ear. 

Emily laughed, covering Andy's eyes, "stop grinning like that. It can't be that exciting the fiftieth time around." 

Andy took Emily's hand and kissed the palm, "first of all, it's only like the twentieth time I've done that, you usually don't let me get that far."

"That's because it's really intense. I just can't deal with it all the time."

"I know," Andy smiled, kissing Emily's hand, "I'm not complaining, I just want you to feel good. And secondly, I _always_ grin like an idiot after I make you come." 

"I had noticed that." 

**

Cassidy was lounging on the bleachers casually inspecting her fingernails when the kids filed in. Janet Williams cast Cassidy an unnoticed skeptical look before disappearing back into the building. The kids didn't bother to hide their surprise that they hadn't frightened her off. 

Cassidy stretched and stood. "We meet again."

"You have a pair showing up here again." One of the boys scoffed, crossing his arms. 

"No. See, you misunderstand me, _I_ have an iron will. Trust me, I don't scare that easily." Cassidy dribbled the basketball she'd brought with her. "I'm here to facilitate sports. That's what I'm going to do."

A particularly confrontational girl, who honestly couldn't be a day over eleven, stepped forward into Cassidy's space. "Think again."

Cassidy let the basketball fall to the pavement and she grabbed the girl by her shirt, "I'm here to do a job and no punk ass teenager is going to keep me from that." She let the girl go and she stumbled backwards. "You all read that loud and clear?"

"You can't talk to us like that!" A few of the kids from the crowd protested.

"Oh yeah? My father is Lucas Gregson and my mother is Miranda Priestly. There's not a damn thing I could do or say that couldn't be made to go away. Keep that in mind." Cassidy stared them down for a moment, giving them time for the weight of her empty threat to settle into their minds. "Line up on center court, we're going to practice foul shots. _Move_!"

**

Miranda was settled into the back of the town car as it rolled along. Her day had been so trying that she'd done something that she never did: kicked off her shoes in the car. Her blackberry vibrated. Miranda took it out and was surprised to see that Donna was calling. 

"Hey beautiful," Miranda greeted warmly, "what are you doing up at this hour?"

"I couldn't sleep." Donna confessed, burrowing into her pillows pitifully. "I wish you were here."

"There's no place I'd rather be," Miranda felt the twang of home sickness. "I miss you and I miss Kalokairi. I can't wait to come home."

"Oh Miranda, it warms my heart to hear you call Villa Donna home." 

"Really it's anyplace where you are that's home." Miranda switched the phone to the other ear. "Don't get me wrong, I love getting to spend time with Cassidy again and I'm looking forward to Caroline's return as well, but I miss you." 

"I miss you too." Donna rolled over onto her back, "I think you took my sense of normalcy with you."

"Sweetheart, I don't have it. It must be misplaced." Miranda smirked, "is something bothering you? Is that why you can't sleep?"

"See right through me, do you?" Donna sighed.

Miranda laughed softly, "I'm terrible at that sort of thing. It's just five lines into the conversation and you haven't moved on to your happy stories about the villa." 

"Well," Donna sat up again, fidgeting around with pillows. "Sophie's pregnant." 

"Oh." Miranda answered, not sure what else to say. 

"That was about all I could manage too." Donna admitted, pulling her knees up to her chin, "it's not that I'm not happy for her, if she wants that. I just don't want her to feel stuck, and I feel like I can't tell her that without making it sound like I regret her in some way." 

Miranda nodded knowingly, "thus the insomnia." The car pulled up to the curb, Ron got out and opened Miranda's door. She got right out and headed for the townhouse door.

Donna nodded, "when you had the twins it was because you were happy where you were, you were stable in your career. That's what I wanted for Sophie." 

"That's a good way to put it, but you don't have to use me as an example. I would generally avoid using me as an example if you want to encourage her to be a normal, well-adjusted person." Once inside the townhouse, she closed the door and started putting away her accessories. 

Donna laughed, "Miranda, you're so funny." 

"You're delirious." Miranda smiled warmly at Donna, wishing she was there, cuddling her as she fell asleep. "Why don't you try and sleep. Call me in the morning?

Donna yawned a little, "okay. I love you."

"I love you too."

When Miranda hung up she poked her head into Cassidy's bedroom, "how was your second day of work?"

Cassidy looked up with a smug grin, "three words, mom: Veni. Vidi. Vici." 

"That's my girl." Miranda smiled.


	12. Chapter 12

Hey Priestly --

It was wonderful to get your letter. For once I was happy to see your handwriting and not getting a sinking feeling in my stomach. They told me you tried to call. They don't let us make or receive phone calls, just letters. It's embarrassing how few addresses I actually know. 

I'm feeling well, if a little isolated. The facilities are very nice. Leave it to the Swiss. I feel like I'm on an extended vacation that I can't leave voluntarily. You know, like your first marriage. And your third. Okay, also your second. It's crazy that we went through all of those together, you're my oldest friend -- and, of course, I mean that in the duration sense, darling. I love you, Miranda, I don't say it enough. You've always been a good friend. Maybe with the exception of Paris in 2006? I'm kidding. You gave me my start and you gave me your job. I'm trying not to get sentimental but I have a lot of time to think these days. 

I know I keep saying it and you keep telling me not to, but I really appreciate your taking over for me. I got the latest issue and it looks great. If you want to give Emily my address I'm sure she'd love to give me her side of the story. 

I hope you and Donna will see each other soon. I also hope that you resolve things with Cassidy. If you don't want to tell her about your expulsion, that's your choice, but in my opinion, it's one of the worthiest reasons I've ever heard of. Just my two cents.

I hope to hear from you again soon, love.

Always,  
Nigel

Miranda smiled, slipping the letter back into the envelope and setting it on her desk. She was musing on buying new stationery when her phone rang. "Hello darling, what a lovely surprise." 

Donna grinned on the other end, hauling her suitcase with her. "Even lovelier surprise. Guess where I am!"

Miranda listened and her face lit up, "do I hear tell-tale airport sounds?"

"You do indeed."

"When will you be here?" Miranda could scarcely hide her excitement. 

"Surprise! I'm already here." Donna grinned, "I have a meeting to go to though, so I'm just going to get a cab and change at the townhouse. Is that alright?" 

"Sweetheart, I'm sending my driver to pick you up. I won't take no for an answer."

**

Donna smiled when she saw Ron waving her over to the town car. "Good to see you again, Ms. Sheridan."

" _Donna_ , Ron." She smiled at the familiar face, "and it's good to see you again too."

He opened the backdoor for her. "Thank you," Donna said as she slid in. She caught sight of Miranda, "you came!" 

Miranda smiled, she ran her fingers through Donna's hair, "how could I not?" Miranda pulled Donna into a tight hug. The two women clung to each other, wordlessly appreciating each other. Miranda turned her head so that her lips were against her ear, "I've missed you so much. I've missed the way you smell." 

Donna's fingers tightened around Miranda's arm as she held her, "I can't wait to fall asleep in your arms tonight."

The trunk was closed, Ron had stowed Donna's lone suitcase and over-sized bag and was now taking his place in the driver's seat. Ron wasn't the only employee who enjoyed a nicer Miranda since she'd started seeing Donna almost four years prior. 

Miranda didn't advertise her relationship with Donna, but in her own spaces, such as her office, her car and her house, she refused to refrain from touching her beautiful ladylove. She hadn't discussed it with her employees, the majority of those who knew had chanced upon finding out.

Miranda had never warned her employees when there was a new man in her life, she saw no reason to act like dating Donna was a world-changing epiphany. None of her employees had breathed a word to the popular media, as far as Miranda could tell. 

If she asked Ron, he'd be able to tell her that not one employee wanted to risk breaking the spell of Miranda's good mood.

"So, tell me about this meeting?" Miranda brushed Donna's hair behind her ear. 

"Well, I've been getting calls from this man." Donna laughed, looking at Miranda's jealous lip purse. She patted her hand, "about franchising Villa Donna. He's a businessman. He's in cahoots with a woman who owns a hotel and together they want to invest in Villa Donna: New York." 

Miranda thought pensively for a moment, unsure of what to say about it. 

"Anyway, he's been calling me for months -- _and_ , before you even ask, I didn't tell you because I wasn't really taking it seriously. I figured, since he's so persistent, and you're here in New York, I could visit you and let him down easily."

"That's my girl, the diplomat." Miranda teased.

"Hey don't knock it, I've won more friends with diplomacy than you have barking orders." 

"Yes, but I've gotten more done." 

Donna smiled, eskimo-kissing Miranda, "maybe so." 

Miranda nuzzled Donna's soft blond hair, "I'm going to ravish you in the shower." She whispered.

"Oh?" Donna blushed and grinned.

Miranda nodded, "don't you know of that old meeting superstition? It's bad luck to go to a meeting if you hadn't just gotten serviced by your adoring girlfriend."

"Now that you mention it, it does sound familiar." Donna nibbled gently on Miranda's bottom lip. 

The two were so deeply engrossed in each other, kissing softly, touching gently, resisting the incredibly powerful urge to let their hands roam freely that when Ron opened the door for them, Miranda let out a soft gasp of surprise.

She pursed her lips, she was generally opposed to surprises. They climbed out of the car, setting their feet on solid ground. Donna picked up her purse and grabbed the handle of her suitcase. 

"Would you like me to bring that inside for you, Ms -- Donna?" Ron caught himself at the last minute.

"No, thank you, I've got it." Donna smiled.

"You wait here. Donna and I will be down in a few minutes, she has a meeting to go to." Miranda pulled her key out of her clutch and ascending the stairs. 

Donna joined her on the stoop. "Miranda, I don't feel comfortable having Ron drive me around." 

"Well, he's going to be driving me too." Miranda let them in, "and it's his job to drive _me_ around. You don't expect me to take public transportation do you?" 

Donna smiled, "I don't know how I could live with myself."

"Donna," Miranda pulled her against her, soaking in the warmth of her body, she whispered, "I have a confession to make."

"Oh?"

"I can't wait until we get all the way upstairs," Miranda dipped Donna suddenly.

Donna let out a giggle of surprise and clung to Miranda, devouring her with her eyes. "You're magnificent." Miranda took her by the hands and pulled her into the sitting room. 

Donna grinned, taking off her jacket, letting it slide off her form and onto the floor, "how do you want me?"

Miranda stepped up to Donna. Her lips hovered above Donna's as she slowly unbuttoned her blouse. She pushed it off of Donna's shoulders and it fell to the floor. Donna's eyes fluttered shut as Miranda's warm hands trailed up Donna's stomach. Long slender fingers burrowed underneath her bra and cupped her breasts.

Donna groaned, thrusting her chest into Miranda's hands, feeling herself getting wet already. Verily, Miranda only had to look at her chest to make Donna whimper with lust. Miranda grinned, knowing full well that Donna's breasts in her hands meant that she was putty. Miranda leaned in and nibbled Donna's ear lobe. 

Donna's fingers dug into Miranda's Chanel pencil skirt, slowly pulling it up until her fingers touched bare ass, Miranda's thong leaving nothing to the imagination. Miranda bucked into Donna, her instincts taking over. Donna pulled hard on Miranda, using the force of Miranda's body to topple them backwards onto the settee. 

Miranda reacted immediately, she pushed her thigh between Donna's legs and pulled her hips against the thigh, Donna moaned, moving against Miranda's skin. 

Miranda sat up and made fast work of Donna's jeans, pulling them asunder. Miranda ran her fingernails down Donna's legs, Donna moaned, lifting up her hips pleadingly. "Jesus, Mira." Donna moaned, "for once, don't torture me! I just need you!"

Miranda groaned as she pushed three fingers into Donna. Donna's legs wrapped around Miranda's waist, Miranda used the weight of her body to support her thrusting fingers. "Oh god, you're so wet..." Miranda ground out as her fingers pushed into Donna again and again, her body moving against Donna's with synchronicity. 

The room was silent save for their heavy breathing and Donna's moans of pleasure. Donna's hands on Miranda's ass started to clench as she felt her orgasm building. The closer she got the further she arched her back until her the orgasm shot through every extremity, making the tips of her fingers tremble and her body go limp from the exertion.

Miranda stilled her thrusts, holding Donna close, their heartbeats mingling in a chorus of rapid cadence.

"You're... _perfect_." Miranda breathed, holding Donna tightly against her chest. 

Donna laughed, covering Miranda's eyes. "Oh shut up."

Miranda grinned kissing up Donna's stomach. Her nose brushed against the swell of each breast before grazing her teeth lightly over the pale skin. Donna moaned. "God, Mira... I really ought to shower..." 

Miranda pulled back, "oh alright." Miranda smiled at Donna, "it's so good to just look at you again." 

Miranda got up, with only a few of her joints cracking, which she chose to ignore. She stretched and held out a hand to Donna. Donna accepted the hand gratefully. 

"Oh." Donna looked down at the settee guiltily. 

Miranda followed Donna's gaze to the darkening stain. Miranda started to laugh, a deep, throaty laugh. "Isn't the first time I've had to reupholster that settee for you, is it?" 

Donna blushed deeply, "stop it." Donna laughed, covering her face. 

Miranda continued to laugh, pulling Donna into her arms, "it's the fourth time, actually. How many times do you think my decorator will believe I'm remodelling my sitting room?" 

"It's not funny." Donna said, not able to help starting to laugh. 

"Yes, it is." Miranda bit her lip, "it's really funny." 

**

"Emily Charlton." Emily put the phone against her cheek and held it up with her shoulder, spreading out a bolt of fabric. 

"Hey," Andy said on the other end, "it's me." 

"Oh, Andy, darling. This isn't really a good time for me." 

"It's okay, I don't really have time either, but I just wanted to ask you on a date this evening. Seven, after I get out? The place you like that serves the haddock." 

"I don't know if I'll be done here." Emily admitted, "Miranda bailed out for the afternoon and I have to oversee the preparations for the photoshoot. I can try though. Why don't we say eight and I'll call you if I can't make it?" 

"Okay, I'll take it. I love you." 

"I love you too." Emily shut the phone and turned back to the fabric bolt. "I'll take this one, the other one's the wrong color." 

"Yes, Ms. Charlton." Dolly nodded, gathering the bolts back up and leaving the conference room.

Serena leant against the wall as the others filed out of the room with their orders. Emily stood over the table, writing down her notes. Serena pushed off the wall and walked up to the table. "How is _Andy_?"

"You have no shame, Serena. None at all." Emily capped her pen and smirked at Serena. 

"It was just a question." 

"It _wasn't_ just a question. You are nowhere near as smooth as you think you are." Emily gathered up the binders in front of her. "If you'll excuse me, I have to go make some conference calls about my permits." 

"Let's get a drink tonight. Eight o'clock." 

"I don't know if you're a moron or a jackass but I have plans." 

"Well, liebchen, I'll be at the BXL if you change your mind." Serena batted her eyelashes at Emily. 

"The Belgian Cafe around the corner from your apartment." Emily smirked. "I think I'm offended that you think I'm that stupid. Have a good evening."

Serena stood in the conference room, watching Emily leave before grinning. 

**

Miranda looked at the time again and then started to lean out the window of the Lexus. Donna put a hand on Miranda's shoulder, "Mira, breathe." She whispered. Donna stroked Miranda's hair, "it's okay."

Miranda leaned back in the car, still scowling but determined to calm down. Donna's hand on her shoulder, squeezing comfortingly was a big help. She turned toward Donna. Donna reached up and stroked her cheek. 

When the duo finally arrived at Donna's appointment, a man in a well-pressed suit stood up, he extended a hand to them, "hello ladies, I'm-"

"Gopher?" Miranda looked at the man across the table in the Armani suit. 

His mouth fell open, "Miranda Priestly?" 

"Why are you meeting with a lawyer in the states?" Miranda turned to Donna who looked stunned. 

He cleared his throat, "I'm not a lawyer anymore. I was laid off last year. And I wish that I could lose that accursed nickname. My name is Topher Simons, and I prefer to go by Simon." 

"How do you two know each other?" Donna asked. 

"I used to work for her husband, Lucas Gregson." He tried to say it without sounding too bitter. With the exception of Donna, no one to whom Miranda had attached herself was an easy person to work for. "I'm in investments now." 

Miranda nodded. Donna was the first one to take a seat and the other two followed suit, feeling somewhat leary of each other. "You said you had a proposal for me, Simon?"

"Oh, yes." Simon said, snapping out of his stupor, "As I've mentioned before Dinah Gordon has inherited a hotel from her husband's estate. The hotel has been disused for some time, her husband had no interest in running it. Ms. Gordon wants to invest her hotel and I think that Villa Donna would make an excellent franchise." 

"Like you mentioned when you stayed last year." Donna smiled indulgently. "The thing about Villa Donna is that it's about history, it's about cultural authenticity. I realize it might sound a little strange: a former British citizen preaching the merits of cutlural and historical validity of Greece but I'm a guest in Greece and I don't want them to feel like I'm exploiting their culture by doing a half-assed job." 

Simon smiled, "That, Ms. Sheridan, is exactly what I and Ms. Gordon find so wonderful and unique about your hotel. It's authenticity is tangible." 

"A Villa Donna in New York. Which culture would we be authenticating?"

"Greek." Simon confirmed, nodding, "New York City has a growing Greek population. It's your commitment to authenticity that would make Villa Donna New York a perfect addition to the city. But that's not all. I'd like to take you to the hotel, if you don't mind, to finish my presentation." 

"What percentage of Villa Donna New York would Donna get?" Miranda asked. 

"Ms. Sheridan would get 51%, controlling shares." 

"And any and all creative input?"

"The whole thing is at her discretion. Villa Donna is her baby, she's the reason why it's so successful, I wouldn't dream of taking any creative decisions away from her."

Donna put a hand on Miranda's arm and Miranda turned to look at her. "Mira, you're not my lawyer."

"You're right, I'm not, you should've brought a lawyer with you." Miranda pulled out her cell phone, "I'm going to call Lucas." 

"Hey," Donna said softly, putting a hand on Miranda's arm, pushing it and the cell phone gently back down to the table. "I'm not signing anything, I don't need a lawyer. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." 

**

The ride to the hotel was silent. After the initial shock of Miranda's presence had worn off, Simon began to wonder just _why_ Miranda was there. What was her relation to Donna Sheridan? Why did Miranda not only let her talk to her like that but why did it calm her instead of fuel her ire? 

The taxi stopped in front of an old hotel. It was a very classic looking building, a brownstone with concrete trim. The inside was grand entranceway that Miranda approved of, though, uncharacteristically she kept the thought to herself. 

"It is a very nice hotel, Simon." Donna said as they walked through the large kitchen and into the dining room. "Spacious. It would be good for large gatherings. It just doesn't have the right sort of history." 

"Ms. Sheridan, I have saved the best for last." Simon brought them outside again and walked them to the building next door. "Do you believe in fate, Ms. Sheridan?"

Donna remained silent, she wasn't about to tip her hand. 

"This building," he let them into it. A small entryway led to a ampi-theatre. "This theatre played exclusively Greek plays. It's another building owned by the late Mr. Gordon, Dinah and I recently learned the history of the theatre and it was then we knew that this project was fate."

Miranda looked over at Donna. She was clearly considering it. 

"I'll have to think about it." Donna said finally. "I don't want to make any decisions in haste." 

"Of course, of course. You know how to get in touch with me." Simon smiled. "And you should meet Dinah too. We should do dinner some time." 

**

Emily was on the phone with a clerk at the town hall. She rubbed her tired eyes, "look. I just need the permit to do my photoshoot on the steps of the courthouse. It'll be at night with artificial lighting so it won't interfere with business." 

She paused and listened before speaking again, "you listen to me!" She raged, "this is Emily Charlton of Runway magazine, we donate millions of dollars annually to this city and-"

Miranda gently took the phone from Emily's hand. Emily stared at her in disbelief. She spoke softly into the reciever, "Miranda Priestly, here." She paused, "yes, permit for the photoshoot tomorrow evening. I'll send someone down for it. That's all." 

She ended the call and handed it back Emily. Before Emily could protest, Miranda gave her a small mollifying smile and said, "perfecting your American accent or sending someone else to do it helps. I learned that a long time ago." 

Emily pouted a little. "I don't have your clout."

" _Yet_." 

"What are you doing back? I thought you were taking the afternoon off." Emily furrowed her brow.

"I was but Irv called me in for a meeting."

Emily let out a small surprised laugh, "he snapped his fingers and you came?"

"No." Miranda pursed her lips and continued with mild annoyance, "he snapped his fingers, I told him where to go and Donna talked me into coming. What can I say? I'm a sucker for a blonde with seven separate ear piercings." Miranda's tone at the end was genial.

Emily smiled a little. Perhaps they could get along after all. Emily gathered up an arm full of papers. "I'll send someone down to get the permits. Have a good meeting with Irv." 

Miranda raised her eyebrows skeptically but took her leave. 

Emily hugged the papers to her chest. Maybe she needed to lighten up and stop being so paranoid. Miranda wasn't out to get her, Andy loved her and she was good at her job. She decided she'd grab a boy from the closet to go get it, if she was sending an American, she ought to go full tilt and send a boy. 

**

Miranda entered her office. Despite the fact that Emily said they never used it it was littered with Emily's things. Miranda pushed the papers and binders and books belonging to Emily to one corner of the desk and sat down in her chair. 

Irv appeared in the doorway, "oh, there you are."

Miranda smirked annoyedly and said flatly, "as we agreed."

"Forgive me, but," Irv shrugged, "I can't say I really expected you to be here." 

"When I say I'm going to do something, _Irv_ , I do it." She sneered the name. 

He cleared his throat and motioned questioningly to the chair in front of Miranda's desk. Miranda motioned to it impatiently. He took a seat and they sat silently for a moment. 

Just as Miranda was about to tell him to get to his point or get the hell out he spoke, "my father made you editor-in-chief of Runway before he retired. He always told me that it was the best thing he'd ever done for the magazine. He was sweet on you."

"Your father was a good man, make your point." Miranda had always viewed the younger Mr. Ravitz as a bug that ought to have been squished, whereas Irving Ravitz Sr. had been a very good businessman, committed to quality and, though he lacked artistic talent, was able to appreciate the gift in others. Irving Ravitz had been a good man. His was probably the only funeral she'd ever cried at. 

Junior was taking his sweet time getting around to the reason for his impromptu meeting. He dug out a bound report from his briefcase. "I have a rough copy of this months budget report. It's projected using data from your years here and factoring in your new staff. Spending is up by 25%."

"You didn't call me down here to slap me on the wrist." Miranda folded her arms across her chest. She knew him too well.

"No," he shook his head, "I didn't."

Silence fell over the office again. Miranda's impatience and annoyance were growing by the millisecond. "Irv-"

He cut her off, her notstrils flared. "Your new hires are expensive." 

"You can't pay people less and expect them to do the same job. If you want a job done _well_ you have to pay people fairly and accurately." 

He nodded, "I see that now." 

"Pardon?" Miranda was shocked by his agreement. 

Irv smiled a little, finally able to stump Miranda. "I said that I know that now." He handed over the budget binder. She took it from him and leafed through it. "Appendix C is sales." He waited until Miranda flipped to the appropriate section before continuing, "sales from the last issue are up over fifty percent. And compared to the last six months with Nigel and Emily running the show, your sales have always been an average of 30% higher." 

"Now that Runway has the right staff it will stay that way. Now that you understand that quality cannot be sacrificed if you want to make a marketable product Emily and Nigel will have an easier time running the magazine."

Emily entered the outer office, she needed one of the binders she'd left on Miranda's desk. She stopped when she heard the two voices coming from inside and took a seat at her old desk to wait. 

"Miranda," Irv said, shaking his head, "I don't think you're listening to me."

"Oh, if only I weren't here listening to you." Miranda rubbed her temple. "What is it you don't think I'm hearing?" 

"I want you to take your job back. I want to re-instate you as editor-in-chief of Runway. _No one_ else can do what you do. Not even the people that you've personally trained. This is _your_ job. This is _your_ magazine. You're the only person who can really run this magazine."

Emily, who'd been trying, unsuccessfully, not to overhear the conversation, felt like she'd just been stabbed in the stomach. 

"You know, a year ago I would've killed to hear you say that. Over the last couple of years I've learned that Runway isn't what I need to feel fulfilled. I loved my years here at the helm but right now, I'm here solely as a favor to Nigel and as soon as he's back, I'm leaving." 

"Miranda, whatever you want is yours. A raise, an increase in your budget. Just name it."

"Irv, _no_." Miranda said in her soft but commanding tone. "I don't want to run the magazine anymore." 

The metaphorical knife was now twisting itself in Emily's stomach. 

"Just think about it." Irv insisted. 

"I don't need to think about it." Miranda said, standing, "and if you'll excuse me." She motioned for him to leave.

"Alright, alright." Irv stood, "just know that anytime you change your mind my offer still stands." 

At that point, Emily did the only thing she could think of: she hid under the desk. She didn't have the presence of mind to make up a reason why she'd been outside the office and she didn't think that she'd have the vocal capabilities if her mental functions _were_ on board. 

Irv walked down the hall, Emily could hear his footsteps disappear and heard the elevator doors in the distance. Still, she sat there. Miranda needed to leave next. She didn't have long to wait. Miranda gathered up her purse and dialed a number, "hey Donna, I'm just leaving... no, Irv just got an asinine idea into his head that somehow couldn't wait until tomorrow. I'll be home in about ten minutes." The glass doors closed behind her and she started down the hallway. "I love you, too." 

Emily's heart pounded in her chest, she was sure it was loud enough for Miranda to hear but finally she heard the elevator descend again taking Miranda away. 

She pushed the chair away from the desk and climbed out from beneath it. She sat down in the chair trying to calm herself down, promising herself she wasn't going to cry. Everything was going to be alright. She needed to hear Andy's voice. She pulled her phone from her pocket and hit the first speeddial button.

Andy picked up on the second ring. "Hey Miran- Emily... _shit_." Andy paused for a moment, unable to believe what she'd just said, "Emily, please don't hang-"

Emily immediately turned the phone off, not wanting to deal with Andy calling back. Not yet. She shoved the phone to the back of one of the drawers of her old desk and headed straight for the elevator. She needed to get out of the building. She felt like she was suffocating. 

**

Emily entered the restaurant a few minutes after eight, not sure how she exactly how she ended up there. A waving hand caught her attention. "liebchen. Over here."


	13. Chapter 13

Miranda paced the floor in the airport. Donna sat on a bench watching her pace and knowing the futility in asking her to calm down. 

"So Miranda," she said.

Miranda stopped mid pace and turned to Donna. "Yes?"

"What do you think of the idea of Villa Donna New York?" 

Miranda sat down on the bench next to Donna. "Well," she began, thinking for a moment, "I think that the natural projection of any enterprise is growth."

Donna laughed, "which is Miranda code for what?"

Miranda smiled, "I think that it's your decision because it's your hotel and your name. If you think it's a worthwhile venture and you think that it will be done well without compromising-"

"Mira." Donna cut her off. " _Your_ opinion. You don't think I should do it, do you?"

"I didn't say that."

"You didn't say _anything_." 

Miranda paused for a moment, "I don't think it's a _bad_ idea." 

"Mira, don't insult me." Donna smiled. "If I didn't want your honest opinion I wouldn't have asked you. Level with me."

"That is my opinion, I don't think it's a _bad_ idea. I just haven't really formed an opinion about it yet. I want it to be your decision though, I don't want to influence you either way. I'd feel better, though, if you consulted a lawyer. I think you should talk to Lucas. Gopher worked for him and he's used to his work, if he's trying to trick you about anything Lucas will spot it." 

"Do you have reason to distrust Simon?" Donna asked, "that's something I'd really be interested in." 

"I wouldn't say _distrust_ , exactly." 

"Mom!" Caroline cried, dropping her carryon and running to embrace Miranda. Miranda stood just in time to be knocked back over by 120 pounds of happy teenager. 

"Oh sweetie," Miranda kissed her cheek, "it's so good to have you back again." Miranda hugged her tightly.

"Donna!" Caroline cried excitedly, just noticing the smiling blond next to them, "wow, I'm spacey, I didn't even see you there. I didn't know you were here!" Caroline transferred to hugging Donna tightly.

Donna smiled adoringly, hugging her back. "I can't wait to hear all about school."

"Caroline," Miranda put her hand on her shoulder, "they're going to think your bag is a bomb if you don't go get it." 

**

Emily woke up that morning with a gasp and no idea where she was. As she sat up in the strange bed, her head starting to throb, memories of the night before came flooding back to her. _Oh god_... She ran her fingers through her hair and looked around the room, she wrapped herself in the sheet and walked out into the apartment. There was no sign of Serena.

For the best, probably. Emily returned to the bedroom and started to dress. The front door opened, Emily froze. Serena appeared in the doorway, "you're up."

"I'm out. I'm leaving." Emily pulled on her blouse.

"I got lattes and egg white omlettes, stay for breakfast." Serena took Emily's hand. 

Emily yanked it away from her, "just stop touching me." 

Serena grinned playfully, "what a change from last night. Last night it was all 'Serena, touch me,'" she moaned breathily, "'touch me like you used to... touch me...'"

"Serena, all I can do is thank the Lord that I'm a blackout drunk." Emily sneered, now fully dressed. "I have to get home." 

"Home to what?" Serena snapped, trying desperately to make Emily stay, "home to the girlfriend who called you Miranda? You should be with someone who has eyes only for you." 

"She loves me."

"She loves you so much she can't remember your name?" 

"Stop that!" Emily demanded, "stop trying to play mind games with me. I'm going home to my girlfriend and we are never going to speak about this again."

"You deserve someone who has eyes only for you. That's me, liebchen, not Sachs." 

Emily stood with her hand on the doorknob, gazing into Serena's eyes for a few long moments. "Goodbye, Serena." She opened the door and left.

**

Donna whipped up soutzoukakia with a side of falafel, at the request of Miranda. She'd missed Greek food even though at Villa Donna she often groused that she missed French food. The girls chatted excitedly as they ate, co-conspiring on their plans for the evening. 

Miranda knew that it would be useless to ask if they'd stay in, considering their enthusiasm, but she did so wish they'd all spend the evening together. 

Cassidy's phone rang as the girls were helping Donna clean up. "Hey Monica... you're outside? Oh, um, we're still cleaning up dinner..."

Donna nudged Cassidy, "you two go ahead. I can finish up."

Cassidy grinned, leaning up and kissing Donna's cheek. "You sure?"

"Yeah, get out of here. Have fun." Donna smiled, elbow deep dishwater. 

The girls bounded out of the kitchen headed for the door. Miranda was coming down the stairs as they entered the foyer. "Hey, where are you two going?" Miranda put a hand on her hip, "there's still cleaning to be done." 

"Donna said we could go." Caroline looked at Miranda pleadingly. 

"And Donna's your mother now?" Miranda pursed her lips, but as she looked into their deploring eyes she knew she was beat. "Fine. Go." 

"Love you!" They each squealed as they ran out the door.

"Caroline," Miranda called from the doorway, "you have work in the morning." 

The car that was waiting for the twins roared to life and sped off down the street. Miranda sighed heavily, shut the door and walked into the kitchen. Donna smiled up at her but then frowned sympathetically catching Miranda's face. "Oh come here, sweetie. I know." 

Miranda leaned against the counter, a deep pout carved into her features. Donna swooned, "you know I can't resist that face." 

"You're such a mother. I come in pouting and you just want to cuddle me." 

Donna laughed, pulling her hands out of the water and toweling off her hands. Donna cupped Miranda's face, smoothing away the pout creases. Donna leaned up and kissed Miranda's lips softly. "I always want to cuddle you. Pouting or not. And I am _such_ a mother and I make no apologies. _You_ are such a mother too, you know."

Miranda sighed. "I know." Miranda leaned into Donna. "I just got my whole family back and the two little hellians run off." 

"They just love seeing each other and they're happy to be back together. They'll be back. They love you. They love spending time with you." 

"Your feeble attempts at appeasing me are endearingly sweet but effectually useless." 

"I know." Donna laughed, "and you should know by now that futility is my specialty." 

"I can think of another specialty. One that I'm particularly fond of..." 

**

Emily spent the day wholed up in Runway's offices not wanting to face going home. She didn't think she could face Andy. Finally, she figured she'd have to turn her cell phone back on at some point and when that time came she'd have to hear all of Andy's voicemails. So she figured, she may as well just go home. 

Andy was at the kitchen table when Emily entered. She looked up at her girlfriend and leapt from her seat. "Emily..." 

Emily shook her head. "No, don't say it." She shook her head again, "I forgive you, let's just not talk about it. I wan to take a shower and I need to sleep." 

"Can I make you something to eat?" Andy asked imploringly. 

"No," Emily kissed Andy once before adding, "thank you," and disappearing into the bathroom. 

**

The next morning Caroline awoke with a groan. Cassidy, who was sleeping next to her, stirred and gave her sister a shove. "Hey." Caroline protested.

They'd been sleeping in Cassidy's friend's basement and Caroline was well aware of a monster hangover. Cassidy rubbed her eyes, "you're such a lightweight." She yawned.

"Yeah, about that." Caroline smirked, "how is it that we're genetically identical but you can drink me under the table?" 

Cassidy shrugged, grinning. "Just lucky I guess." 

Caroline stood up and stumbled a little. She grabbed her cell phone and looked at the time, "oh god! I'm late. Mom's gonna be pissed!" She pulled Miranda's number up. "And... I seem to have replaced mom's caller id picture with a picture of some guy's ass."

"Sweetie, I think you'll find that you replaced all your caller id pictures with that picture." 

"How long did that take me?" Caroline looked up.

Cassidy snorted, "honestly, I think it would just depress you if I told you." 

Caroline looked around for her shoes, cursing. "God, I'm so late."

"You'll be fine. Just grab Starbucks on your way in and just be chill about it and I bet mom won't even notice. She didn't call you, that's a good sign, right?" 

"Yeah." Caroline nodded hesitantly then again, more firmly. "Yeah, it's a good sign. Alright. Peace out, sister."

"Godspeed, new Emily." Cassidy saluted as Caroline laughed and stumbled up the stairs. 

**

Miranda was seated at her desk, rubbing her temples, feeling a caffeine withdrawal headache taking over her senses. Emily entered with a thumbdrive in hand. She held it up. "I have the photoshoot takes." Emily announced. "Would you like to choose which ones go into the issue?"

Miranda shook her head. "No. You organized the shoot, you got it done. You finish it." 

Emily pulled the thumbdrive back and smiled slowly, "thank you, Miranda." 

"Don't thank me. You're the editor." Miranda snorted. She rubbed her temple again. "Have you seen Caroline?"

"No, is she starting today?"

Miranda checked her watch and pursed her lips, "not at this rate." 

Emily lifted her brows, knowing that she was grateful not to be on the recieving end of that lip purse. "Uh, I'm going to go get myself a coffee. Can I get you one?" 

Miranda looked up at Emily like she was an angel sent from heaven. She nodded gratefully. Emily retreated. As Emily walked down the hallway she saw Caroline coming and diverted herself in the other direction. 

Caroline walked up cautiously to Miranda's office. She stepped inside, "hi mom." 

Miranda looked up and scowled. "I was about to file a missing persons report on you." 

Caroline set the cup of coffee she was carrying in front of her mother. "I'm sorry, mom. Cassidy and I just got a little carried away last night and-" Caroline was cut off by Miranda standing. 

"Caroline, I am going to be unusually generous because you're my daughter and I love you but this is your one - and, mark my words, _only_ warning." Miranda's scowl deepened as she talked. "You waltz in here no less than _four_ hours late and you are _clearly_ hung over. Go sit at your desk and get to work on the to-do list I made for you."

Caroline blinked, her eyes were wet but no tears fell. "I'm sorry." She whispered.

Miranda took a sip of her coffee, "and this coffee's cold!" Miranda raged, throwing it into the trash next to her desk. The motion causing her forelock to fall into her face, managing only to make her look more fierce, almost feral. 

"Do you want me to get you another one?" Caroline asked softly.

"I told you to go to your desk." Miranda said in a quiet rage, pointing to the outer office. 

Caroline watched her for another moment before retreating submissively from the office. She settled into the seat that was Emily's for four years. Taped to the blotter was a to-do list for her. She picked it up and read it over. She got up from the desk and ventured into Miranda's office. 

Miranda looked up challengingly. "Yes?" 

"I don't know where any of these places are." Caroline held up the list. 

Miranda set down her glasses and sat back in her chair. "Caroline, if you can't do this job I'll hire someone who can. Clear?" 

"Crystal." Caroline turned on her heel and left the office, grabbing her purse and heading down the hallway. She stopped a woman in the hallway, "hey, could you help me. Can you tell me where these things are?" Caroline showed her the list. 

"I had to write a fucking term paper on Human Rights in the Third World for you once." The blonde sneered at her. "Find them yourself." 

"I got a B on that paper, jerk!" Caroline scowled as the woman walked away. Once she was out on the street she dialed Andy's number. "Biiig favor. I need help with my slave duties. I just need directions."

**

Emily set the steaming hot cup of Starbucks in front of Miranda. Miranda picked it up and took a big, burning, gulp and smiled with contentment. "Thank you." She said taking another sip. 

"Welcome." Emily smiled a little. 

"Emily," Miranda caught her attention as the Brit turned to leave. "Would you and Andrea like to join us for dinner, tomorrow night at the townhouse?" 

The redhead nodded, "yeah. That would be nice." 

**

Caroline sat in the back of the car as it carried her away from the Bronx where she'd been sent to acquire a few pieces from an up and coming designer Miranda had decided to patronize. She wiped at her eyes and picked up her cell phone, "Cass?"

"Hey, sweetie, what's wrong?" Cassidy asked in a hushed voice. "I don't have a lot of time."

"Mom is so mean." A few tears slid down her cheeks, "she's horrible to work for, she's a demon, she's a huge fucking bitch." 

"Oh, hon, I know." Cassidy moved away from the phone, "hey! I didn't say you could stop! Switch teams, you're not helpless, don't treat me like an idiot!" 

"You come by it honestly, I guess." Caroline smiled a little.

"They're playing softball and one team just got three outs and they stand there like they don't know what to do next. Like they need me to tell them how to wipe their asses." 

"You hate your job as much as I hate mine?" 

"No, not at all." Cassidy shook her head, "they're good kids, they're just high schoolers. Think they can pull a fast one on me, you know, just like we tried in high school." 

"How did you pull a job where you're alpha bitch and I get one where I'm the _bitch_?" 

Cassidy sighed, "literally? You were the one who volunteered to work for mom. Psychologically, you're a much bigger sucker for punishment than I am. But, Caro, I have to go, doing my job, you know. Try not to piss mom off by not doing yours, okay?" 

"Easier said than done. Peace out, sister." 

"Hey Cassidy!" One of the boys yelled, "DeSean got hit by the ball!"

Cassidy pocketed her cell phone and ran over. DeSean was sitting next to home plate on the ground. "Hey, what happened?" Cassidy touched his shoulder gently, leaning down to see the damage.

"I just couldn't get out of the way of the ball, it hit me in the shoulder." 

Cassidy nodded, "may I see?" 

" _May I_?" DeSean laughed, "this isn't prepschool." 

"Yeah, yeah, smart ass." Cassidy smiled, "pull up your sleeve." Cassidy looked at the darkening bruise on his shoulder. "Oh yeah, that's going to be big and deep, it's going to be a really badass bruise, you're gonna get a lot of female sympathy, tiger." 

DeSean laughed. "Starting with you?" 

"Me? No. I'm an ice queen, remember? And speaking of which," Cassidy looked up to one of his friends, "Jake, can you go get an ice pack from the nurse and a couple of aspirin if his parents cleared it?"

Jake nodded and ran off into the building. When Jake returned he had Janet WIlliams with him. "Cassidy, what happened?"

"He said he got hit with a pitch."

"He said? You weren't watching?" Janet folded her arms across her chest. 

"I had to take an urgent call from my sister. I wasn't more than 5 feet away the whole time. I was looking, I just turned away for a minute." 

"It's true, Ms. Williams." Isabelle jumped in to help, "it was an urgent call and she was still here, she even kept giving us instructions." 

"It was a split second happenstance." 

Janet was stunned that these kids who'd driven off three other supervisors were standing up for Cassidy. DeSean looked up at her, "it just hit me in the shoulder, it's a common baseball thing. I'm fine." He held the ice pack to his shoulder, "and she was really good about knowing what to do."

Janet sighed, "alright, Ms. Priestly, but next time you have to take an urgent call, keep your eye on the field while you're doing it or send someone to come get me?"

"Yes." Cassidy nodded. 

**

Miranda opened the door to the townhouse and put her jacket in the closet. "Mira!" Donna smiled, meeting her in the foyer, "I went out exploring a little today." 

"Oh?" Miranda smiled and kissed Donna softly. 

"I found a wonderful open air market and I picked up so many wonderful foods. I am making you a feast fit for a queen." Donna grinned. 

"You spoil me. You're too good to me, you know." 

Donna batted her eyelashes, "oh, I know. And I expect compensation later." 

"My dear, you will be amply compensated. If it takes me all night, I will work tirelessly to compensate you." Miranda whispered. Donna moaned breathily, leaning into Miranda. 

"Oh, shit!" Donna announced as she turned and fled for the kitchen, thowing over her shoulder, "I left the meat on the stove!" 

"I'll be in in a moment to supervise." Miranda laughed, hearing Donna's heartwarming giggle in return. Miranda gently removed her jewelry and set them on the table when a knock came upon the door. 

Miranda opened it and a man in a brown uniform consulted his clipboard. "Is this 13973rd St.?" Miranda confirmed impatiently. "Sign here, then." 

Miranda resisted the sigh that threatened and accepted the package from him. He smiled a little and she closed the door. It was addressed to Donna, Miranda didn't miss that and she was loathe to admit that she might intrude upon Donna's business. It was with that in mind that she slid it open gently, careful not to tear the envelope. Sliding the contents from the envelope she saw quickly that it was a draft of a contract for Villa Donna New York, looking up to make sure there were no witnesses, she tucked the contract into her oversized Prada bag, sitting innocently in the closet, completely unaware that it was to be used as an instrument of deception.


	14. Chapter 14

Lucas was standing at the window behind his desk, talking into his blue tooth headset when Miranda entered the room. "You tell him he can shove that figure where the sun don't shine because any jury would award us three times that insulting amount. Next time you get offered such a pittance and don't immediately laugh in its face the only pittance you will ever get again will be your unemployment check!" Lucas punctuated his point by pulling the headset off his ear and ending the call. 

"Hmm." Miranda smirked, "good to see you haven't changed much." 

"I have but few weaknesses." Lucas said, shuffling the papers on his desk, "being overly sentimental is not one of them. Except when it comes to my children. Speaking of the monsters, how's Caroline doing at work?" 

Miranda pursed her lips, "I hesitate to say that it's a disaster, but I think that no other description would do the situation justice." 

"What a beautiful way you have of insulting by not insulting. Commendable, really." He laughed, "what's wrong with her?"

Miranda sighed, "she's just not very responsible. She's not taking the job seriously. I won't give her special treatment just because she's my daughter. She knows who I am and what I do." Miranda shrugged, "if she wanted a job she could sleep through, I could suggest night watchman." 

Lucas smiled, "did you come down here to discuss Caroline?" 

"No." Miranda shook her head. 

"The girls tell me your ladylove is in town, I hadn't expected to see you for a while." He admitted. 

Miranda produced the contract from her purse, "it's actually because of her that I'm here. Gopher wants to invest in Villa Donna New York and I can't help but feel that he's trying to cheat her. He says that she'll get 51% but that seems... off to me. Especially because he doesn't get the other 49, he's splitting it with the woman who owns the building." 

Lucas nodded, "do you want me to look at the contract?"

Miranda nodded, "you know Gopher's work and if he's trying to pull a fast one you'd be best equipped to see it." She held the document out to Lucas. 

"I'll read it over." He picked it up, "simple contracts are short, this one is very long. Something is almost definitely amiss with it." 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++** +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Donna walked through the market. She breathed in and smelled the crisp, sweet aromas of fresh vegetables. Already in her basket was three bell peppers, a bunch of radishes, an onion and two summer squashes. She was looking for tomatoes, scallions and mushrooms but felt like she'd been walking around in circles. 

Finally she located them after making three or four new friends and sharing two recipes. 

She headed back to the townhouse after purchasing a block of feta cheese and a rack of lamb. She'd bought enough cans of chick peas for Miranda's pantry closet to feed a small army so she didn't bother with those. Miranda had plenty of spices, many of the jars as yet unopened and Donna had gotten fresh dill and basil the day before. 

Before she met Miranda she used to view compulsive shopping as completely excessive and narcissistic. Since Miranda, she'd given the idea of shopping another chance, Miranda didn't overshop but she did very much enjoy spending her money. Donna had come to realize that she was the same way only she bought food. She was constantly trying new recipes and new foods. Different end result but similar compulsions. 

Still, Donna would take her adventurous food habits over Prada shoes any day. 

Juggling her shopping bags she managed to open the front door and then kick it shut behind her. As she struggled to keep her balance her cell phone began to ring. Donna groaned, trying to rush to the kitchen to put the bags down. By the time she got there, nothing spilled, and freed her hands the phone had stopped ringing.

Donna sighed, she hated cell phones, though she recognized them as a necessary evil of the twenty first century. She took it out of her pocket and saw that the caller had left her a voice mail. 

She spent five minutes remembering how to check her voicemail and another three remembering her pin number before she finally accessed the message. "Hello Ms. Sheridan, this is Topher Simons just calling to see how you were doing and how you were enjoying your stay in New York. Did you have a chance to look over the contract that I sent over yesterday? You can call me back at..." 

Donna stopped listening, her mind trying to wonder why she didn't have the contract or if he had meant _today_ instead of _yesterday_. Briefly, she wondered if Miranda had the contract but couldn't imagine why she wouldn't have told her she had it. 

Six o'clock was fast approaching and she decided to get started on dinner. Andy and Emily were supposed to arrive a little after seven and Miranda was supposed to get home at six. Miranda had a tendency to burn food so Donna assigned Miranda a supervisory position, however, on occasion, Miranda was trusted to cut vegetables and Donna wouldn't begrudge the help. 

Her phone rang again. She picked it up and put it to her ear, "hello?"

"Hello gorgeous," Miranda said on the other end, "I'm stuck in cross-town traffic, I don't know how long it'll take me to get home." Neither one of them wanted to say that Miranda could get out of her car and take the subway and be home in ten minutes. 

"Be safe," Donna said softly, "I love you and I'll see you soon." Donna hung up the phone, "bloody hell." 

Donna looked at the collection of vegetables on the counter and sighed. She dialed Caroline's number, "hey kiddo, I have kind of a lot of cooking to do and I could use some help."

"You at the townhouse?"

Donna smiled, "where else, sweetie?" 

"Donna, no offense, you're the best other mother I could ask for and I would do anything for you... except run into my actual mother tonight." Caroline shuddered, "I have to spend the evening rebuilding my shattered sense of self and Cassidy has to spend the night convincing me not to pull an Lizzie Borden and hack my mother to death in her sleep." 

"Aren't you sweet?" Donna asked sarcastically. 

"Sorry, Donna. I still love you and I hope you still love me." Caroline said before hanging up the phone. 

Donna let out a frustrated groan, "damn over-dramatic Priestly women." Donna tied her hair back and pulled out the knife and started to cut up the pepper, "spoiled rotten princesses, each one of them." 

**

Around six o'clock Andy called Emily, "Emily Charlton." Emily greeted formally.

"Hi, Em. I just wanted to talk to you before we go to dinner, maybe you could come pick me up and we could talk a little in the car?" 

"Talk about what?" Emily drawled innocently.

"Oh come on, Emily." Andy sighed, "sweetie, I don't understand why you won't let me talk to you about it."

"There isn't anything to talk about, Andy." Emily shook her head, "and I have to run a couple of errands and I'll already be in the vicinity of Miranda's townhouse so it doesn't make any sense to back track all the way down there. I'll just see you there." 

"Emily..." 

"Andy, we can talk about anything you want afterwards, alright? I'm not avoiding you I just have errands to run."

Andy was skeptical, "alright. I'll see you at Miranda's then. I love you."

"I love you, too." Emily replied and hung up the phone. She put her feet up on the desk and sighed, putting her phone back in her jacket pocket. Did she feel bad about lying so blatantly? A little... but she felt worse about having been called Miranda so she decided it was better for both of them this way. 

**

A little over an hour later Donna was perched on a stool in the kitchen with a fresh cup of coffee as the kebabs roasted in the oven. She heard the front door open and Miranda call out, "Donna!"

"Kitchen!" Donna called back.

Moments later Miranda appeared in the doorway, "sorry I'm late." Miranda offered an apologetic smile, "can I do anything?"

"Could you have if you'd been here on time?" Donna smirked.

Miranda watched Donna for a few long moments, "what's your problem?" 

"Me? Nothing..." Donna sipped her coffee, "I don't have a problem... not a care in the world... what's yours?" 

Miranda studied Donna, unsure of how to react to her. Her cell phone rang, she pulled it out of her pocket and the caller id to see that it was Lucas. "Excuse me." She put it to her ear. "Hello."

"Hey Miranda," Lucas glanced at the contract on his desk, "I just got finished going over the contract."

Miranda stepped into the sitting room, "what's the verdict?"

"That dirty little bastard," Lucas laughed, "he hid it in the fine print and he used a lot of double talk but the bottom line is this: he projects a certain amount of money in the first quarter and she gets 51% of that, after such time she gets nothing. Neither does the woman who owns the building actually, you should probably talk to her too." 

"Thank you, Lucas." 

"If Donna would like me to go with her to talk to Gopher, I'd be happy to."

"I'll talk to her and give you a call." Miranda and Lucas said their goodbyes before she headed back for the kitchen. "That was Lucas."

"Oh? Everything alright with the girls?" Donna looked concerned. 

"Yeah," Miranda nodded, "Gopher sent over a contract yesterday and I brought it over to Lucas."

"He sent over a contract? And you took it and didn't tell me?" Donna was stunned. She had chastised herself for thinking it earlier, now here Miranda admitted it and Donna felt outraged, at the very least disappointed in Miranda. 

"I just wanted Lucas to go over it. He found a few things that I should tell you about." Miranda poured herself a cup of coffee. The bell rang, "I'll get that."

Donna grumbled, pushing herself off the stool, as Miranda made her way to the front door, "why tell me about? Why not just do it for me? And just not tell me about it..." 

Miranda let Emily into the townhouse, "Andy's coming in a few minutes." Emily hung up her coat. "Is Donna in the kitchen?"

"Yes."

Emily wandered into the kitchen, "can I do anything for you? Pour water or set the table maybe?" 

Donna smiled, "you're a saint, Emily, a true saint." She pulled four dishes out of the cupboard, "setting the table would be more help to me than you can imagine." 

Emily laughed, "Miranda giving you a run for your money?" She hoisted the dishes into her arms. 

Donna rolled her eyes, "I'm not saying a word."

Emily smiled and brought the dishes into the other room.

Meanwhile, Miranda let Andy into the townhouse. "Miranda," Andy said with a sense of urgency, hanging her coat up and giving her a hasty hug, "I've been dying to talk to you."

"What's wrong?" 

"I, well..." Andy stopped, realizing that it was hard to explain exactly why Emily was mad without telling Miranda that Emily accused Andy of being in love with Miranda. "So, there's this woman that I'm friends with. She was away for a while and now she came back and I've been spending more time with her and Emily thinks I'm hung up on her. Well, I accidently called Emily by her name."

" _Are_ you hung up on your friend?" Miranda asked. 

Andy was surprised that Miranda would ask that because normally Miranda didn't think to ask those sorts of questions. Andy's mouth hung open, unsure of how to answer. 

"Well..." Andy blushed under Miranda's scrutiny. 

Miranda looked at Andy knowingly, "maybe you shouldn't hang out with her if you're hung up on her. If it's causing tension in your relationship and you want to stay with Emily. It's not fair to Emily." 

Andy frowned. She wasn't used to Miranda giving her advice on matters relating to interpersonal relationships. She also frowned because she didn't really think she was hung up on Miranda and she wondered if she would have given the same advice if she'd been more aware of all the facts. 

"I'll consider that." Andy said finally, trying to point Miranda in the direction of the dining room. 

During dinner Donna was withdrawn, she was trying to be a good hostess, she felt like the dutiful and put upon wife. A role she had never intended to play with any man and now felt that Miranda had forced her into it. Emily felt torn between gnawing guilt and justified anger. Andy fidgeted nervously, settled at the table between Emily and Miranda. 

Miranda ate her dinner while remaining blissfully unaware.


	15. Chapter 15

Emily helped Donna clear the dishes and did the dishes that Donna hadn't done while dinner cooked. Emily and Andy stood on the sidewalk outside of the townhouse and Emily called her car service to pick them up. Andy watched Emily questioningly, though she dared not speak. 

Miranda walked up to Donna, hugging her around the waist and giving her a squeeze. 

Donna gently extricated herself from Miranda's hold and, sternly, announced, "we have to talk." 

Miranda furrowed her brow and looked stunned. "What about?"

Donna was speechless for a moment. "I have to spell it out for you? You _took_ the contract, which I am _sure_ was not addressed to you, and brought it to your ex-husband." 

"It's a good thing that I did because he found that Gopher was trying to cheat you." Miranda insisted. 

"What you are assuming there is that I wouldn't have had a lawyer look at it before I signed it. You're treating me like I'm stupid, Miranda, don't treat me like I'm stupid."

"I don't think you're stupid." Miranda scoffed, "I think you are _trusting_ and you believe in people and goodness and fate and I don't want you to get hurt." 

"People are going to get hurt, Miranda, you can't keep people from getting hurt. Even people you care about, you can't protect anyone but yourself. As a mother, Mira, I know it's hard to let go of that mother hen _need_ to keep children -- and loved ones -- safe from all the world's harm but you _can't_." 

Miranda pursed her lips, "I _know_ that." 

Donna continued, "furthermore, Miranda, you can't leave me out of decisions _about_ me. I _do_ believe in goodness and humanity's basic goodness. That does not mean that I wouldn't have taken the contract to a lawyer, it doesn't even mean that I wouldn't have brought it to _Lucas_. I believe in covering my ass from all angles. I believe that everyone has their individual intentions. Simon's intention is to make money. _Your_ intention was meant to be a gesture of love and an assertion of your deep caring for me. I know that. It was, however, insensitive and condescending."

Miranda frowned, crossing her arms across her chest. 

"You're not the boss, anymore, Miranda. When you retired from Runway you were more laid back and more egalitarian but since being back... you're bossier and you can be the boss at Runway but you can't be mine. Look me in the eye and promise not to pull any of this shit again." 

"Who's the boss _now_?" Miranda snorted indignantly. "How can you stand there and tell me that I can't be the boss while you're giving me a lecture like I'm a teenager. I can't be your boss and _you_ can't be my mother. I will _not_ promise you anything until _you_ promise not to lecture me." 

Donna rolled her eyes, "I can't deal with this." She stormed through the townhouse with Miranda at her heels.

"Where are you going?" Miranda demanded. 

"I'm going for a walk." Donna snapped, snatching her coat from the closet, "call me when you get over this bullshit." Donna slammed the door behind her, leaving Miranda to flare her nostrils defiantly at the heavy mahogany door. 

**

Once Andy and Emily were back at their apartment Andy took Emily by her hand, "Emily, please, I think we should talk."

"What about?" Emily feigned ignorance.

Andy rolled her eyes, "I'm not retarded, honey, I know that you're still mad at me." 

"Why should I be mad at you?" Emily insisted, "you slipped up on my name. My mother used to call me by the dog's name. Which... is much more offensive than another woman's name."

"But Em-"

Emily cut her off, "the dog's name was Scruffy." 

" _Emily_." Andy furrowed her brow, "please stop ignoring what I'm saying to you!" 

Emily was silent, daring Andy to continue. She'd been exceptionally forgiving up until this point and if Andy planned to continue she should expect retaliation at its fullest. 

Andy let out a shaking breath. The women were very much alike, Emily and Miranda, which didn't make matters any simpler. Andy had poked the bear and now she was going to pay for it. "I just... I want to apologize -- _from the bottom of my heart_ \-- for calling you Miranda. It was a stupid slip-up and... it won't happen again." 

"So why _did_ you say Miranda? Because you were expecting her to call you? Because you were looking at a picture of her? Because you were _thinking_ about her?" 

Andy frowned, "Emily, come on..."

"No, Andrea, you insisted on talking about it so we're talking about it. Were you expecting her to call you?"

"No." Andy's frown deepened. 

"Were you looking at a picture of her?"

"No." Andy shook her head. 

"Were you thinking about _fucking_ her?" Emily yelled.

" _No_!" Andy yelled back, "jesus christ, Emily!" 

"You're sexually attracted to Miranda Priestly." Emily ground out, "just admit it. Say it. _Say it_."

" _Stop_ this!" 

"You want to fuck Miranda!" Emily screeched. The room was silent save for their heaving breathing. They stared at each other, nostrils flaring in anger. 

"Fine! Yes! I'm attracted to Miranda!" Andy screamed, her voice faltering and her eyes filling with tears. "Jesus Christ. Yes. I'm attracted to Miranda, are you fucking happy now? What the hell difference does it even make? Why does it matter?" 

"So, I'm the silver medal. Miranda was taken and probably wouldn't have you anyway, so you're fucking me because I'm the closest you'll ever get to fucking Miranda Priestly!" 

"No!" Andy's body was wracking with angry sobs. "No... Emily, I love _you_. I live with _you_. I _fuck you_! What the hell difference does it make that I'm attracted to Miranda? I _love you_." 

The conversation dropped off again, Andy's sobs the only sound. She finally continued, defeated, "why isn't that enough?" 

Emily shook her head and whispered, "I don't know... but it just isn't." She blinked and a tear rolled down her cheek. She headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" Andy sniffled. 

"I'm just going to Runway. I have to be alone for a while." The door closed behind her, leaving Andy to cry by herself.

**

Miranda paced around the sitting room, simultaneously fuming with anger and fighting off a wave of tears. Finally, she broke down and pulled her cell phone out, dialing Donna hastily. "Mira?" Donna answered on the other end.

"I'm sorry, Donna, I don't want to fight with you anymore," Miranda spoke as tears ran down her face, "I love you so much and I just want you to come back."

The front door opened and Donna rushed to Miranda, "I didn't even leave the front steps, I couldn't bear to walk away. I love you too." 

The two women embraced, holding each other tightly, burying their faces in soft hair. 

"I don't think you're stupid," Miranda whispered, "Donna, I'm so sorry." 

Donna sniffled, "I know, Mira, I know you had my best interests at heart."

They remained glued together for a few more long moments. Their tears stopping but their arms not loosening. Eventually they shifted their heads so that they could look into each other's eyes. Miranda leaned her forehead against Donna's, brushing their noses together, smiling softly at her lover. 

"Let's take a vacation. Not a long one, just... a short one this weekend. Maybe Las Vegas." 

Donna grinned, "god, you're such a sentimental sap." Donna kissed her lips, "how anyone could call you a dragon lady is beyond me. I would love to go back to Las Vegas with you. Shall I arrange the details?"

Miranda shook her head a little, "I'll have my assistant do it." 

"Speaking of your assistant," Donna remembered the conversation she'd hadwith Caroline earlier. "Caroline is very upset with you." 

"Well, bully for her. _I'm_ very upset with _her_." Miranda frowned, "she showed up four hours late _hungover_. Anyone else would have fired her on the spot." 

Donna smiled, "that, she didn't mention."

Miranda laughed, a sound that warmed Donna's heart. "I'm sure she didn't. The little brat." Miranda shook her head, "you know, for the record, _that_ is how people call me a dragon lady. They come into work thinking that they can get away with subpar work and when I, rightfully, tear them a new one they get mad." 

Donna reached up and ran her fingers through soft silver hair. "I love you so much," Donna's loving fingers caressed Miranda's scalp. Miranda slipped her eyes shut. "Mira, I'm so happy to be sharing your life with you." 

Miranda's hands covered Donna's, giving them a gentle squeeze, "I'm yours, I'm all yours." 

**

Emily had holed herself up in the layout room, viciously marking up the Book as she took out her anger at Andy on her unsuspecting employees. She used only a desklamp to illuminate her workspace, keeping the rest of the room dark. So when the light came on she looked up in surprise.

"You're going to hurt your eyes." Serena warned from the doorway.

"How is it that you're always here so late?" Emily questioned, "do you just lay in wait until I'm upset? Ready to swoop in at a moment's notice?" 

Serena laughed, "liebchen, don't kid yourself." She strode up bedside the desk. "I work late because of this." She put her finger on Emily's scathing comments in the Book. "You have vetoed three layouts so far. If you want me to go home you have to give me permission to." 

"Fine," Emily took her pen again and started to scribble out her complaints about the layout. "There. Layout approved, go home." 

Serena took her glasses off and folded them up, "suit yourself." She tucked the glasses into their case. "And for the record,liebchen, you are _always_ upset." 

Emily scowled as she watched her leave. Despite her constant insistences that Serena leave her be she was a little sad when she didn't turn around for one last look before she left the room. 

"The light?" Emily called annoyedly after her.

"Good for your eyes, keep the light on." Serena's voice echoed down the hall.

Emily groaned and got up to shut it off. With her hand on the switch she stopped and peered down the hallway, Serena's heels still resounding off the walls. She looked at her work, the light and then back to the hall. She didn't hear the footsteps anymore. 

"Serena?" She called hesitantly. She listened but heard nothing. Just as she was about to shut the light out and chastize herself the footsteps resumed. 

Serena was visible at the end of the hallway. "Yes?" 

"I..." Emily teetered for a moment, "I have a question about the layout, would you come here?"

The approaching footsteps signalled Serena's acceptance of the request. A yard remained between them and Serena stopped, "what is it?" 

"Come closer." Emily whispered.

Serena took a big step forward, closing half the distance. "Like this?"

"Closer." 

Again she moved forward, closing half the remaining distance. They stood scarcely six inches apart. Serena watched Emily scrutinizingly. Emily let out a soft shaking breath. Serena spoke quietly, "like this?" 

"Do I have to draw you a map?" Emily's criticism was teasing, she cocked her head, raising an eyebrow. Serena smirked. Emily looked directly into her eyes, " _closer_."

Serena's hand came up to cup Emily's cheek. Serena's fingers gently stroked Emily's rouged cheek. Serena couldn't stop the smile that tugged at the corners of her lips. "liebchen... cherie... cara mia..." 

"You know how to sweet talk a girl..." Emily said breathily, wrapping an arm around Serena's waist. 

"Sweet talk, it may be, but I refuse to silence my heart when it wants so badly to reach out to you." Serena's other hand stroked Emily's forearm. "My heart tells me every day that all it wants is you." 

Emily melted into Serena's soft caresses. 

"Emily," Serena whispered, "how I miss you. If only you knew that I can scarcely think of anyone or anything but you." 

"Don't hurt me again." 

"liebchen, if it takes me the rest of my life to make up for hurting you, I will gladly spend the time." Serena's thumb ran over Emily's cheekbone.

"So kiss me already," Emily whispered urgently.


	16. Chapter 16

Caroline accompanied Miranda to a run through and spent the whole time glaring at the back of her head. Several members of the team fidgeted uncomfortably, unsure whether to blow the whistle or let it be. Mostly worried that if Miranda turned around and noticed that she'd be mad that no one had spoken up. 

"Oh, Juliette." Miranda shook her head, "I had high hopes for you. I should punish you for so cruelly dashing my hopes." 

Juliette, a tall, towering woman, stood stunned, watching the fashionatrix slicing and dicing her work.

"I will give you a week to rethink some of these unfortunate designs and we'll reconvene." 

Juliette barely managed to stammer out, "thank you, Miranda."

"That's all." Miranda said with a sigh, motioning to her entourage that it was time to go. 

Emily took a deep breath and approached the white haired whirlwind. "Miranda, hold up a second." 

Miranda turned slowly, everyone else now watching in alarm. Miranda spoke slowly and clearly, a sure sign she was ready to pounce and devour should Emily make a wrong move. "Yes?" 

"I liked the collection." Emily said boldly. 

The entourage looked panic stricken, though the two editors didn't spare them a glance. 

"You did..." Miranda pursed her lips and crossed her arms, "what about it did you like?"

Emily mustered up the courage to keep going. "I think that the color combinations were well considered and that the attachment of the different parts with the big white zippers were a good stylistic choice." 

Miranda watched her thoughtfully. 

Emily continued. "I think that the work is strong, especially for a new designer. I think that we should back her now before any of the other publications try to swoop in. I think that she's really going to take off and that this first collection will stand out." 

Miranda gave Emily a curt nod, "it's your call." Miranda was proud to see Emily taking charge of the magazine, thinking of its future interests and standing up for her opinion. Miranda didn't feel that she was losing touch but she knew, though she'd never say it aloud, that there were points of view other than her own. She knew that Nigel was more from her school of thought and when he returned he and Emily would have a good balance of classic and nouveau designs. 

Emily did her best to hide her grin, more than a little bit pleased that Miranda seemed amply willing to trust her judgement. "Can I borrow Caroline for the day?" 

Caroline tried to hide a grimace with little success. 

Miranda put her hands on her daughter's shoulders, "you can borrow her for the whole weekend and into Monday because I'm taking a vacation." 

"Thanks, mom." Caroline said flatly.

Miranda kissed Caroline's cheek, aware of the sarcasm and was happy to give as good as she got. "You're _welcome_ , sweetie." Miranda gave Caroline a dismissive pat on the back, "go wait for us outside." 

The entourage disbanded and Juliette retreated, happy to have reclaimed her dignity. 

"I'm glad to see you stand up for your opinion." Miranda said simply before following Caroline out.

Emily grinned when she was alone in the room. "Gold star." She whispered, feeling very good about herself.

**

"I'm going to run and get a bottle of water before we have to board." Donna announced, kissing Miranda's cheek. "I'll be right back."

Miranda smiled and leaned back against the bench she was sitting on, she was so happy to be travelling with Donna again. She drummed her fingers on the Donna Karan carry-on bag to her left and was about to start thinking of what do with Caroline when her phone rang.

Miranda looked at the caller id before picking it up, "hello Andrea,"

"Hi Miranda," Andy sounded tense. "How are you?"

"While I am not overly prone to hyperbolic statements, I am on top of the world, Andrea. And yourself?" 

"In keeping with the theme of the conversation: I'm the lowest of the low." 

"Unacceptable." Miranda furrowed her brow in sympathy. 

"Emily and I had a big fight after we left your place the other night. She won't speak to me." Andy sighed, "and I just sit in my cubicle all day and I miss human interaction. Would you and Donna be interested in going out to dinner with me?" 

"Unfortunately, though the interest is there, we have a prior engagement with an airplane this evening and we won't be back until Monday."

"Oh, where are you going?" 

"Las Vegas. We just want to get out of New York for a while." Miranda said, Andy was quiet on the other end, "you know, you should call Cassidy. Caroline will still be working this evening, but Cassidy gets out of work at six and I bet she'd be thrilled to get together with you." 

"Thanks, I'll give her a call." Andy nodded, "I hope you and Donna have a nice break. Tell her I said hi."

"I will." Miranda confirmed, "I hope that everything works out for you, Andrea. Oh, you know, if you're bored right now, you could write Nigel a letter. When we get off the phone I'll e-mail you his address." 

"Thanks, yeah. I haven't gotten around to writing to him yet." Andy pushed the pens around in her holder. "Have a good flight, Miranda."

"Thank you, Andrea. Have a good evening." 

Andy flipped her phone shut and sighed. When the address came through Andy addressed an envelope and got out paper to start writing. 

**

Cassidy had managed to talk her father into being allowed to use his car service and after she released her charges she climbed into the back of an air-conditioned hybrid Lexus driven by a pretty young brunette woman. Life was pretty sweet. 

Cassidy put her feet up on the console in the middle of the two front seats. Jeanine looked at her in the rearview mirror. Cassidy winked and Jeanine laughed and shook her head. Cassidy's phone vibrated in her pocket, she pulled it out, "yello, Sachs." 

Andy laughed, "you sound like you're in a good mood." 

"I am Andy. My life is pretty good." Cassidy crossed her legs. "What's up?"

"I want to annex you for dinner." 

"Sweet, I'll meet you at that thai restaurant we used to eat at." 

**

Miranda had a very carefully honed poker face. As if there was any doubt. However, she was very bad at the game. She generally avoided it but allowed Donna to talk her into playing a few hands. Donna had _no_ poker face, however, that was what was genius about Donna's game. She was very good at poker and because she laughed and grinned about _everything, all the time_ no one expected her to be a card shark, while Miranda's harsh, frowning, angular features and elegant attire made people believe her. 

Finally, when Miranda's stomach started to growl, they got up from the table and cashed in their winnings. "Why did it take you so long to get into gambling?" Miranda asked as they walked along the strip.

Donna laughed, "well, I didn't really know I was any good at it until that year that I met you here. Otherwise I would've picked it up _years_ ago. It certainly would have saved me years of menial labor for very little payout." 

"That's how fate works," Miranda smiled. 

"That's right. If I was a card shark then I probably wouldn't have had so much to drink. Then I wouldn't have ever found myself in your bed." 

"And that, in and of itself, would have been a tragedy." Miranda took Donna's hand. Donna gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

"What do you feel like eating?" Donna looked around. 

Miranda furrowed her brow in though, "I don't know. Chinese, maybe. Something that you don't make because it always falls short of your cooking. Did I tell you that I actually ate at one of those street vendor carts because I had an intense craving for falafel?"

Donna smiled, "no, you didn't mention. And you're still alive, it's a miracle. I'm sure there are restaurants that serve falafel, you don't have to get it from a street vendor. Actually, it's not that difficult to make." 

"Not that difficult in general? Or not that difficult for _me_?" 

"I'm not sure. Jury's still out on that. There's hot oil involved." 

Miranda stopped walking and drew Donna to her body. Miranda wrapped her arms around Donna's waist, Donna smiled and wrapped her arms around Miranda's shoulders. "I love you, Donna." 

"I love you, too, Mira." Donna grinned, leaning in and capturing Miranda's lips. 

Miranda sighed contentedly, "Donna, I have a crazy idea."

"Do you ever have any other kind, darling?" Donna whispered with a smile, "what's your crazy idea?"

Miranda turned Donna around and pulled her close, "do you see it?"

"Um," Donna furrowed her brow, "I see some hotels, some casinos, some restaurants. None of those seem terribly crazy..." 

"You're not looking very hard." Miranda whispered in her ear, nuzzling her hair. 

Donna thought for a few long moments and finally said, "well, there's that wedding chapel, but-"

Miranda grinned against Donna's cheek. 

Donna turned around and looked Miranda in the eye, "are you serious?" 

"I'm completely serious. I didn't think I'd ever want to get married again, I thought that marriage was a ridiculous institution, but I think that's because I've never gone into a marriage thinking 'this is the rest of my life,' I'd always thought of my marriages as a step, as PR, as an obligation, as a means to give my daughters stability at the expense of my own happiness. But now that I'm with you, I understand why people in love want to get married." 

Donna blinked a few tears out of her eyes. "You can really be romantic when you want to be." 

Miranda lowered herself onto one knee. 

"Oh sweetie, you don't have to do that, I already know that I'm going to say yes." 

Miranda pulled her Judith Ripka Canary Olivia ring off and slipped it onto Donna's finger, "please accept this ring until I buy you a proper one." 

Donna helped Miranda to her feet and pulled her in for a searing kiss. When they separated Donna wiped tears out of her eyes. "Miranda, I love you with my whole heart and I've known for a while that I was going to spend the rest of my life with you. Let's do it, let's get married."

**

After a quick stop at Tiffany's at the Belagio and about a half an hour arguing about the price of the rings, Miranda charged them to her gold card. Then, using Miranda's Blackberry, they located the least tacky looking chapel in Vegas. 

Miranda and Donna stepped up in front of the altar and the man eyed them curiously. "It won't be legal, you know." 

"We know." 

"Just for fun, then?" The man snorted. 

"No." Miranda snapped, "it doesn't have to be legal for me to want to make a commitment to the woman I love." 

"Okay. Join hands please. Would you like the standard vows or have you prepared your own?" 

"We're going to do our own." Donna smiled. She gave Miranda's hands a squeeze, "Miranda, I never could have planned for you. Every time I thought I had my life figured out the universe threw something else at me. I thought that the romantic part of my life was over and I'm grateful that you showed me how wrong I was to think that. I'm grateful every day that I get to be a part of your life and know you for the sweet, caring, loving person that you are. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, I want to wake up to you every morning, I want to fall asleep with you every night. I want you by my side throughout anything and everything that could possibly happen, all the good things, all the bad things. As long as we're together I don't care what else happens. Miranda Victoria Priestly, I love you and I pledge myself to you wholly." 

Miranda smiled and slid the ring onto Donna's finger. "Donna Sheridan, you have the purest heart I've ever known and you make me a better person by loving me. I am truly blessed to have you in my life. Loving you was never a choice for me, I could say that I promise to love you forever, but I don't have to because I already know that I will. I could spend a hundred lifetimes with you and it wouldn't be enough." Miranda smiled, "Donna, you have my body, my heart and I pledge myself to you wholly." 

Donna slid the ring onto Miranda's finger. "By the power vested in me by the state of Nevada I now declare you..." the man trailed off, unsure of how to finish the sentence. "Uh, totally in love." 

Donna laughed and captured Miranda's lips to keep her from berating the man for his choice of words. Miranda allowed herself to get lost in the kiss instead of getting hung up. 

**

"So how come you're in the dog house with Emily?" Cassidy asked over a bowl of pad thai. 

Andy sighed heavily, "because I'm in love with your mother." 

"Yeah, no kidding." Cassidy snorted, "but that's not exactly new." 

Andy groaned, "oh, I'm so fucked."


	17. Chapter 17

Emily was stretched out on Serena's bed, Serena's lips peppered kisses over her stomach. Emily was still basking in the post-coital bliss. Serena had always had a tendency to keep Emily on the edge until her body was ripped to shreds by the resulting orgasm. Serena and Andy were such different lovers. 

Emily ran her fingers through Serena's hair. "Serena, you're beautiful."

"You flatter me," the Brazillian bombshell grinned looking up. Serena laid her head down on her lover's abdomen, "there is nowhere on this earth that I'd rather be than right here with you." 

**

As Miranda and Donna stepped out of the airport they were immediately accosted by a barrage of paparazzi. "How long have you two been together?" "Why get married in a state that doesn't have legal same-sex marriages?" and other questions regarding the recent nuptials were hurled at them. 

Roy pushed his way through the crowd and helped herd Miranda and Donna to the car. Once they were inside and were navigating out of the parking lot, Roy said, "sorry about that, Ms. Priestly." 

"News travels fast." Donna laughed. 

Donna put an arm around Miranda and held her, hoping to help keep her calm. Miranda had never cared about what the media said about her -- she'd worried when the girls were young and how it could effect them, but since they've been grown up she worried much less about the media coverage of her life. 

When the two arrived at the townhouse Cassidy was there to greet them. She held a copy of Page Six, "I think you'll want to see it." 

Miranda sighed and accepted the paper. She groaned disgustedly and handed it to Donna. Madonna, Katy Perry, Lindsay Lohan -- Miranda Priestly? What is it they all have in common? They all kiss chicks to grab headlines. Miranda Priestly recently tied the knot with her gal pal Donna Sheridan at a Las Vegas wedding chapel. If I had as many failed marriages as Priestly I'd consider switching to the other team, too! 

**

Emily kissed Serena, "I have to go." She said, though she didn't move. 

"I wish you didn't," Serena whispered, pulling her in for another kiss, "I'm not even remotely through with you yet." Serena dipped her head and nibbled gently along Emily's collarbone.

Emily moaned, "I can't stay, Andy will be home soon and I need to shower first." 

"Why haven't you left Andy yet? Or why hasn't she left you if the two of you are so unhappy?" 

"I don't know... familiarity, I guess." 

"Familiarity breeds contempt, didn't you know?" 

"I know." Emily said flatly. She gathered up her purse and sunglasses. "I really do have to go. I'll come back tomorrow." 

"Let's do lunch tomorrow." Serena announced. Emily looked skeptical. "You think it would look improper for the art director to be lunching with the editor?" 

Emily laughed, "you're right, I'm being silly. I'll see you tomorrow." 

When Emily arrived home she was relieved to find that she beat Andy home. She got right into the shower and was towel drying her hair when she heard Andy's keys hit the bowl. She stepped out of the bathroom, the steam billowing around her. 

"Hey." Andy managed a small smile. "How was your day?"

"Fine." Emily shrugged. "Yours?"

Andy hung up her purse, "I've had better." She watched Emily cautiously. "Are we okay?"

Emily nodded, "we're fine."

"Really? Because you stayed out all last night and wouldn't take my calls. That doesn't really say fine to me..." 

Emily pursed her lips, "I was mad last night and now we're fine. Try not to read too much into it." 

**

"So can I watch when you murder the paparazzi and eat their still beating hearts?" Cassidy asked, leaning over the couch. 

"So morbid, Cassidy!' Donna turned to look at her stunned. 

"I'm going to play this level headed and cool actually." Miranda assured her. 

"Boring!" Cassidy threw herself onto the settee in protest. "Are you at least going to be level headed and cool in the way that the reporters will seriously consider suicide when you're done?"

"No." 

Donna put a hand on Miranda's back. "The proper way to deal with negative press is to just let it roll off your back."

"How would you know? How often are _you_ in the paper?" Cassidy frowned.

"Cassidy, don't be rude." Miranda scowled, "Donna's right. I'm not going to engage the paparazzi, let them say what they want because we know the truth." 

Donna kissed Miranda, "I'm going to get a glass of water, can I get you anything?"

"I'm good, thank you." Miranda smiled as Donna retreated.

"Are you kidding me?" Cassidy asked softly, "this is quite possibly the most insulting thing Page Six has ever written about you. They called you a joiner, they questioned the validity of your marriage!"

"Well it isn't a 'valid' marriage. It's one of those name only deals." 

"Okay..." Cassidy started, "let me put it another way. The time that Page Six wrote about your attending a board meeting instead of attending one of our Christmas pageants you went down to the Times and locked yourself in a room with the editor until he ran a retraction and handed in his resignation." 

Miranda sidled up to Cassidy on the settee, leaned in and whispered, "let _me_ put it another way. Donna doesn't like it when I yell at the press and what's good for the goose is good for the gander." 

Cassidy nodded, "fair enough." 

Miranda patted Cassidy's leg and stood up. 

"But hold on..." Cassidy furrowed her brow, "bullying the media is something you _do_. You've never changed for any husband so why start compromising who you are now?" 

"I'm not compromising who I am." Miranda furrowed her brow. "Donna has just helped me reprioritize." 

"Yeah, she's helped you be whipped." Cassidy stood up from the settee.


End file.
